EPA consultations commence today

Sep 05, 2008 News

Special CARICOM Heads Summit to follow – Dr. Luncheon

A two-day consultation on the Economic Partnership Agreement is slated to commence today at the International Convention Centre at Liliendaal, after which a special conference of CARICOM Heads will follow as a prelude to the possible signing of the agreement.
This is according to Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, who, at his post-cabinet media briefing yesterday, noted that the day-long activity is organised around opening presentations by local, regional and international personalities drawn from the world of trade, economic development, international law, economics and academia among others.

Dr Roger Luncheon

Dr. Luncheon said that hundreds of representatives of national stakeholder entities, for instance those in the private sector, organized labour, the religious faith, agriculture, trading goods and services, economics, academia and banking among others, would be given opportunities to have discussions with the presenters on their concerns and their views on the proposed agreement.
At the consultations, the Government delegation will be led by President Bharrat Jagdeo, and will also include Cabinet members.
When questioned as to how the consultations would impact on the possibility of the European Union (EU) changing its position on certain aspects of the agreement, taking into consideration that other CARICOM countries have issues with different features of the agreement, Dr. Luncheon said that CARICOM members of CARIFORUM resorted to acting either singly or jointly, in order to take a formal position to either reject to accept signing the agreement.
This, he said, is likely not to go without a response from the EU.
“In essence, our efforts at informing the Guyanese people and, by extension, making available the sentiments and the views of the Guyanese people to the rest of the Caribbean and to the members of the EU in itself would not necessarily have an impact on the way in which the EU sees or reacts to the signing or the non signing of the agreement. I suspect that the special summit of the Heads would be the forum where these matters are entered into; and hopefully flowing from that, a decision with which the individual CARICOM members of CARIFORUM and the EU can live with would be accommodated. At this point in time, this is the most we can hope for,” Dr. Luncheon said.
As it is currently, a new signing date for the agreement has not been decided upon by the EU.
“But I am not certain, having had the disappointment with an earlier date, whether there would be any urge to set another date, in the context of national consultations and the special summit of the Heads. Were I in the shoes of the planners, I would probably await the conclusions of these preliminary events before I commit once more to having a date for signing,” Dr. Luncheon explained.
Recently, Head of State Bharrat Jagdeo had said that the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which seeks to implement a new trading agreement with CARIFORUM countries and Europe, will undermine the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
This, Jagdeo had noted, was a reflection of double-standards, in that the Europeans says that they support regional integration and aspects of the EPA.
The agreement was described by Jagdeo as flawed and with very little development features.
He was particularly upset with the aspect which deals with reciprocity, wherein some 87 per cent of the goods imported into the CARIFORUM countries will enjoy duty-free access.