ACP policy to focus on poverty

Date: 30/10/1997

EUROPE's relationship with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries should aim towards reciprocal free trade by the year 2020, Development Commissioner João de Deus Pinheiro said this week.

This somewhat optimistic strategy underlined new European Commission proposals for the EU to retain its institutional ties with the 71-nation ACP group, but focus more specifically on poverty alleviation in the region rather than old-fashioned trade preferences.

The Commission also called for more geographical differentiation within the group, stronger political cooperation and more concerted efforts to reduce non-tariff barriers between the two regions.

“These proposals reflect a profound change to our previous policies,” said Pinheiro. “The Commission notes that Lomé's preferential trade regime has not been enough to generate dynamic and sustainable development.”

The central aim of the next Lomé Convention should be to help the ACP countries “to progressively adapt themselves to international commercial rules and to integrate themselves in the multilateral system”, he said. Pinheiro added that current arrangements, together with ACP waivers from World Trade Organisation rules, had not convinced investors of the region's attractiveness.

The Commission's proposals are unlikely to please non-governmental organisations which have pushed strongly for “fair, not free” trade with the ACP countries over the past 12 months. But they do reflect the world's seemingly unstoppable march towards liberal markets, which could dilute the ACP's comparative EU access advantages to almost nothing over the next few decades.

EU foreign and development ministers will discuss the proposals next month, with Union leaders expected to deliver a final verdict at the December summit in Luxembourg. The Commission will then propose a far more detailed aid and trade package early next year.

Pinheiro said that he recognised the challenges faced by the ACP's poorest members, but warned they would otherwise face being marginalised in world markets.