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Jagdeo did not sign EPA yesterday
…has 15 days to do so
President Bharrat Jagdeo
President Bharrat Jagdeo did not sign the controversial Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union yesterday in Barbados.
The President, during a press briefing at State House yesterday, said that he intends to sign the agreement by month end, which would allow for the avoidance of the Global System of Preference (GSP).
He did also express what he called to some extent a vindication of Guyana’s struggle in that it achieved a substantial improvement of the agreement (EPA).
Jagdeo noted that one aspect of the victory was the five-year review of the EPA with a view to improve it as time progresses.
“We won a mandatory review, not a review based on European whims and fancies but a mandatory review which would take place every five years and a commitment that would provide for the impact should it be adverse to change the EPA and its provisions were the implementation of the EPA to impact negatively on our people.”
According to Jagdeo, without the clause that Guyana fought for and won, it would have been an agreement forever into future without any mandatory review.
The European Union has also agreed to take note of the treaty of Chaguaramas as it relates to the conflicts with the EPA.
The main opposition party the PNCR yesterday questioned the effectiveness of the clauses, given that they were not legally binding and that the EU would not be obligated to abide by them.
Jagdeo did say however that he was satisfied with the European commitment and even if they were to renege then there is the option of repudiating the agreement.
The EPA between the EU and the CARIFORUM group of Caribbean countries was negotiated between 2004 and 2007 after previous trade arrangements failed to stimulate development and were challenged as discriminatory at the WTO.
It is a binding international agreement that, according to the EU, fully complies with WTO rules and provides security for Caribbean traders and investors.
The deal includes chapters on trade in goods; trade in services; investment; competition; innovation and Intellectual Property, public procurement and development aid.
The other country that did not sign the agreement was Haiti, despite having initialed the agreement at the end of December last.
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