PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Oct 1 2012 (IPS) – P.J. Patterson, the former Jamaican prime minister, has had a long relationship with the European Union…
Let me indicate at the outset what I shall not be talking about this morning…I shall not be talking about Haiti being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. I shall not be talking about what we have come to call “Haiti’s glorious past”. I have the greatest admiration for the exploits and achievements of Boukman and Toussaint and Dessalines and Christophe and others who fought successfully for independence, but we should in my view be focusing less on the past and much more on Haiti’s somewhat less than glorious present, and on the possibilities for its future…
Comment: A Timely, Critical look at Haiti, Rickey Singh
Recent news on the stalemate in the EPA negotiations in Southern Africa raises fresh questions about the wisdom of Cariforum countries in rushing to sign on to a ‘Full’ EPA with Europe in October 2008…
West African nations have proposed a Development Programme as the framework for their EPA negotiations with Europe. There may be a lesson here for us in the Caribbean…
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On June 5, World Environment Day, Amazon Indians were massacred by the government of Alan Garcia in the latest chapter of a long war to take over common lands-a war unleashed by the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Peru and the United States…
Related
Victory In The Amazon: Defeating the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Pact Laura Carlsen
AN INITIAL CIVIL SOCIETY ADVOCACY POSITION ON CARICOM/CANADA/USA FTA
It is imperative that the upcoming negotiations between CARICOM/Canada set a platform for the
creation of a true partnership agreement which will be based on development priorities.
EPA Negotiations with Central Africa: The state of play, by Claude Maerten and Elisabeth Tison, March 2009
‘The EU has no wish to exercise pressure at the risk of obtaining agreements that might not meet the specific needs of each region…
Far from being unanimously supported, the proposed Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement has been strongly criticized by human and labor rights organizations in Canada and Colombia..
At the beginning of March, political and labour union representatives from six African countries on a visit to five European capitals in March 2009 have told their hosts that ‘in Africa, the economic and financial crisis has already turned into a food crisis, and EPAs will make it worse..’
The European Parliament’s assent in March 2009 to the CARIFORUM-EU EPA was tied to ‘a real review clause’, extra aid for trade, and contribution to the achievement of the MDGs.
For Press Release click here
There are several reasons to question the widsom of rushing to conclude an FTA with Canada at this time.
Caricom-Canada FTA: A Premature Trade Decision Anthony Gomes
The way EPA has been conceived is likely to bring more losses than gains for Africa…
Excerpt from a forthcoming book: ” A First Look at the Political Economy of North South Partnership Agreements: The CARIFORUM-EC, EPA.”
A speech proclaiming that the signing of the EPA is ” The Dawn of a New Era’ reveals several of the key flaws in the Agreement..
Conservative and Liberal Euro MPs were today accused of ganging up on some of the poorest countries in the world to force through controversial trade deals that would open their economies up to EU exports…
The Resolution of 5 February 2009 states that EPAs should incorporate a 5-year revision clause and stronger monitoring and evaluation provisions.
Editorial, January 28, 2009
Controversy continues in the Caribbean and well beyond on the nature of the EPA negotiations ….
Statement to the Commitee on International Trade of the European Parliament on the CARIFORUM-EC Economic Partnership Agreement, Brussels, December 4, 2008
A good opportunity to craft a best- practice model of international development cooperation has been missed..
