Cameroon: ACP Countries Reiterate Equal Market Access
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Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé)
27 August 2008
Posted to the web 27 August 2008
Lukong Pius Nyuylime
Delegates issue Yaounde call after two-day meeting.
The banana war provoked by the decision of the European Union/Latin American banana producing countries to gradually reduce the EU tariff of 176 Euros per tonne to 116 Euros by 2015 entered a new phase following the meeting in Yaounde of delegates from banana producing African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries.
The delegates who include Eric Delucci, president of the Guadeloupe and Martinique banana producers and Vice president of the European Banana Producer Association, Alfred Almond, Member of Parliament for Martinique and Mayor of Schoelcher, Emmanuel Jean-Michel, vice president of the Guadeloupe producer group and delegates from three African countries, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Ghana among others, issued what they described as, the "Yaounde Call", reiterating their call for equal access to the international banana market.
The Yaounde meeting comes after failure last July to strike a deal at the last World Trade Organisation negotiations in Geneva. According to the delegates of the Yaounde meeting, it is possible to establish a positive evolution in the international market for banana. In this light, the ACP and European Union delegates expressed the wish for a negotiated, balanced specific solution capable of promoting a sustainable agreement for all the parties within the unique framework of WTO. Banana, they stated in the Yaounde Call, should not be given the same consideration with tropical products. "It should be an object of a legally indisputable agreement", the Call said.
No agreement, the delegates stated, should be accepted on banana without the participation of ACP countries in its negotiation. "All agreements should take into account engagements within the framework of bilateral negotiations between the European Union and Latin American countries", the Call, said.
The banana problem, though being an economic issue, has become a political problem. The pertinence of the banana war is such that it has held the WTO talks hostage for over a decade. "If there is no accord with banana producers on imports in Europe, then there could be no wider deal on global trade liberalisation", European Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson warned. Mr Mandelson said a deal worked out by WTO head Pascal Lamy had to be accepted by both Latin American and African, Caribbean and Pacific producers. But from every indication, no such concession has been reached.
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Prior to the issuing of the Yaounde call, the delegates had a brief working session with the Prime Minister, Head of Government. They were equally received in audience by the Speaker of the National Assembly.
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Copyright © 2008 Cameroon Tribune. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
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