Trade 
Cotonou Convention to be signed today

afrol.com, 23 June - The Cotonou Convention is the new Partnership Agreement between the seventy-seven member African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states and the fifteen member European Union (EU). The Cotonou Convention replaces the four previous Lome Conventions, which structured ACP-EU trade, development and broader relations since 1975. The Fourth Lome Convention (Lome IV), expired at the end of February this year, while the year and a half-long negotiations for a successor arrangement between the ACP and the EU was reaching finality.

The Convention is geared to tackle poverty within the ACP states, by establishing effective ACP-EU political dialogue, development support and trade and broader economic co-operation. It is particularly concerned to reverse the trend towards economic, technological and social marginalisation of the ACP states - specifically endeavouring to stimulate regional integration among the ACP states and their better involvement in globalisation trends. The Convention strives to enhance ACP-EU adherence to the accepted international principles of respect for human rights, the rule of law, good governance and democratic processes and practices.

The new ACP-EC partnership seeks to create a more favourable context for sustainable development and poverty reduction, and to reverse the processes of social, economic and technological marginalisation. Political dialogue between the Community and each of the partner States (or regions) will play a key role in determining the nature and objectives of the assistance provided. The Agreement is based on respect for human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law, and on good governance. It also establishes special consultation procedures and appropriate sanctions for dealing with human rights violations and serious corruption. 

Its uniqueness is also evident in the ways in which the partnership aims to encourage greater participation by civil society, the private sector and trade unions. These non-state partners are being informed and consulted in the choice of ACP-EU co-operation projects. This new approach will help advance democratic processes and transparency, while fuller information and consultation should ensure that cooperation projects prove more viable than in the past. Similarly, gender equality and environmental sustainability is targeted in all new ACP-EU co-operation processes.

The Agreement is valid for a period of 20 years. It will come into force once it has been approved by the European Parliament and ratified by the national parliaments of the states concerned. It will be open to revision once every five years. 

European Development Fund

It also has a new five-year, EUR 13.5 billion development resource window - the European Development Fund (EDF). The EDF is designed to be applied to achieve more balanced macroeconomic fundamentals, along with expanded private entrepreneurship and social service delivery. New ACP-EU partnerships will be forged, to replace the previous trade preferences granted to the ACP states by the EU. These new arrangements will remove tariff barriers reciprocally and progressively, with the aim of attracting investment.

While the present (Lome) arrangements are to be maintained during a preparatory period of eight years (until 2008), formal negotiations are to begin in September 2002, on new economic partnership agreements, which will enter into force by 2008 at the latest. The ACP participants will then start to liberalise their trade over a transitional period of at least twelve years.

South Africa

South African Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy, Ms. Susan Shabangu, will sign South Africa's Protocol to the Cotonou Convention, in the Benin capital today, Friday. South Africa joined the Lome Convention in June 1998 as a qualified member. This meant it was essentially excluded from the trade regime of the Lome Convention, as well as its provisions on development assistance (aid).

However, South Africans could tender for projects in all ACP countries, financed from the 8th EDF, which was valued at some EUR 12 billion. Moreover, South Africa could participate fully in the political institutions of the Convention.

South Africa's accession to the Lome Convention was similarly governed by a special Protocol, specifying the terms and conditions of its membership. Its accession to the new Cotonou Convention will likewise be in accordance with a Protocol defining its qualified status. Its position will be basically unchanged. It will remain excluded from most of the trade and aid provisions of the new Convention, but benefit in its own ways in these same areas, via the implementation of the SA-EU Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement (TDCA) - signed last October. South Africa will also participate fully in the overall political dialogue and the joint ACP-EU institutions. South Africa will, furthermore, be involved in the discussions between the EU and the ACP on future economic partnership agreements. South Africans will also be eligible for the award of contracts in ACP countries, funded from the new EDF resources allocated under the Cotonou Convention. However, they will not enjoy the preferences accorded to ACP citizens.

Sources: South African Department of Foreign Affairs & European Union

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