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Jamaica PM Outlines Details of
Concluded EU/CARIFORUM EPA |
 December
23, 2007: An
overview of the recently concluded Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between
the European Union (EU) and CARIFORUM was on (Tuesday Dec. 18) presented to
Parliament by Prime Minister Bruce Golding. In his statement, Mr. Golding said
the agreement which covers trade in goods and services, investments and provides
for development assistance for capacity building will come into effect on
January 1, 2008.
Mr. Golding said that under the reciprocal agreement, CARICOM exports will enjoy
duty and quota-free access to the markets of EU member countries. He said
CARICOM countries were not immediately required to provided equal access to EU
exports as the region had secured an 'exclusion list' representing 13 per cent
of current imports which are available locally. "On this list are sensitive
items produced locally on which we will continue to impose tariffs in order to
protect local producers," Mr. Golding said.
He said the region had also secured an extended period of between five to
twenty-five years before tariffs would have to be removed from remaining
imports. Existing tariffs will remain in place for up to three years and
thereafter, will be gradually removed over a 22 year period. This will allow
countries in the region to undertake the necessary fiscal adjustments to recover
revenues lost in the removal of tariffs through domestic taxes. |
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Mr. Golding said the region was only able to secure 60,000 of an additional
quota of 160,000 tons of sugar exports from the region to the EU. He said 30,000
would go to the Dominican Republic and the remainder shared among CARICOM sugar
producing countries. He acknowledged that with the quota-based sugar protocol
already scheduled to come to an end in September 2009, the situation regarding
that commodity and also exports of banana and rice, pose significant challenges
for the region. He said that with the phasing out of these preferential
arrangements, our prospects in these industries will largely depend on
efficiency of production and competitive pricing.
Prime Minister Golding noted that while Jamaica and the region did not get all
they asked for, the reality is that this is never possible in any negotiation.
He stressed that the EPA Agreement provides access to a market of 490 million
people with Gross Domestic Product and per capita income of US$13 trillion and
US$30,000 respectively. He added that securing a few of those niches could
provide a springboard for real sustainable economic growth and development.
A simplified version of the EPA agreement will be made available to the public
once all the final processes have been completed.
Source JIS |
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