Stakeholders at a Ghana-European Union (EU) Business forum in Accra last week came to a consensus that there is a need for Ghana to consolidate the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (IEPA) initialed with the European Union and the need to speed up negotiations to conclude talks on the regional EPA with ECOWAS for the benefit of industries in the West African Regions and to foster regional integration. The one-day forum organized by the European Union (EU) as part of activities marking this year’s EU-Week celebration to deliberate on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs), was attended by a section of the private sector, civil society organizations, government officials and representatives of the European Union. It saw the private sector adding their voice to the need for the consolidation of the IEPA for the benefit of industry. The Minister of Trade and Industries, Ms. Hannah Tetteh, in an address to kick-start discussions on the EPA at the forum stressed the need for the Ghanaian business community especially the private sector, local and foreign to lend a voice to discussions on the need for the ratification of the EPA and to tell Ghanaians and civil society the benefits they stand to gain from the agreement as well as how important the EPA is to their industries. “You have more credibility than government and need to tell the people about your experiences with the interim EPA. You must also lead discussions and get involved and push for the consolidation of the EPA”. She also noted that for the EPA to succeed at the regional level with ECOWAS, it was necessary for all member states, especially Nigeria which commands about 60 % of ECOWAS trade, to sign up to the EPA by joining the negotiations. Ms. Tetteh said the problem with the IEPA and EPA at the regional level is the amount of misconception and ignorance in society and the fact that the debate is largely driven by civil society organizations which have opposed it due to wrong perceptions and the fact that they only project the supposedly negative side of issues raised with the trade agreement. Most of Ghana’s imports she stated come from China which is now the largest importer to Ghana. However Ghana has not been able to penetrate the Asian market. Meanwhile the EU on the other hand, accounts for a significant aspect of Ghana’s exports and most of the traditional exports go the EU. According to the Minister, by reason of being a member of the ACP countries, Ghana already benefits from preferential assess to EU markets, making Ghanaian products more competitive without restrictive tariffs imposed on exports to the EU. Ghana also obliged to do same with EU imports and over the last 20 years as Ghana liberalized trade, many companies have located in the country, creating jobs and if the preferences are taken away, many private sectors will close down. Ms Marta Zaoralova, the EU Negotiator with the Trade Directorate, in a presentation demonstrated that the EPA was meant to integrate countries to share benefits of trade and to foster sustainable development. Being one of the trade instruments of the EU, the negotiator said the EPAs are trade components of the relationship between the EU and ACP countries and it is meant to integrate ACP countries into the world economy. She said negotiations for a regional EPA with West Africa was still in progress stressing that market access issues and political issues were still key outstanding issues in the negotiations. The discussions, she said need to move to a political level and that the outstanding issues mean conclusion will most likely take place through a compromise package made at the highest level. She added that as much as the IEPA was intended as a temporary arrangement and will be replaced by the regional EPA once concluded, it is important to sign and implement the IEPA in order to provide legal certainty and predictability to exporters and potential new investors. Ambassador Claude Maerten, Head of the EU Delegation to Ghana said the EU was negotiating on behalf of the 27 member states and that some of the key objectives of this agreement are sustainable development by improving competitiveness of the private sector and better living conditions to all with a decrease of the tariffs on essential goods. He referred that contrary to the EU where such agreements are to be adopted by a system of qualified majority, in ECOWAS the countries have to accept by consensus for the agreement to come into force. Explaining the Ghana market access offer, he said Ghana has after liberalization, agreed that there are positive benefits and developments. With IEPA, the country enjoys full duty free and quota free preferential access to EU markets and this includes trade in tuna, cocoa, bananas and other agricultural products worth around EUR 242 million a year or around 16 percent of annual exports to the EU. Without EPA, these exports from Ghana would have been imposed with tariff duties upon entry in the EU market and therefore would have faced higher competition from other countries, losing in average a 13% preference margin to export to Europe. Processed cocoa and some other exports also enjoy preferential margins vis-à-vis competing exporters who are subject to import duties. Banana exports have also increased in recent times because of the preferences under the EPA he stated. Ambassador Maerten, also former Head of the EU negotiating team said several tens of thousands of jobs were created in Ghana under the IEPA and that it was necessary to protect those jobs, and with the entry into force of the IEPA, and later under the regional EPA, there will be trade facilitation with accompanying mechanisms to promote simplification of clearing of goods in neighboring countries, and standardization of the procedures across the region. In this vein, he said the Ghana Standard Board will be supported to improve quality standards. He said the major impediments to trade in the region are the inability to establish regional cooperation. Source: B&FT