COMMON MARKET FOR EASTERN AND
SOUTHERN AFRICA

21 02 02

PRESS RELEASE

FIRST MINISTERIAL MEETING ON ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS (EPA) REGIONAL STRATEGY PAPER (RSP) AND THE COMESA FUND

The First Ministerial Meeting on Trade Policy Compatibility and Impact Assessment of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and Preliminary Adjustment Scenarios, on the Regional Strategy Paper ( RSP)and the COMESA compensation and infrastructure fund ( COMESA Fund), was held on 18th February 2002 at COMESA Centre, Lusaka, Zambia.

The meeting was officially opened by the Right Honourable Enock Kavindele, Vice President of the Republic of Zambia.

The meeting was attended by delegates from Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Réunion (France) Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of East African Community (EAC) ; Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD); Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Secretariat of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) as well as the European Commission.

This high level discussion was a follow up to an earlier three day meeting (14th to 16th February 2002) of experts on the same subjects.

The Ministerial delegates discussed the recommendations made by experts , took decision and made recommendations where need be.

On the COMESA Compensation and Infrastructure Fund (COMESA Fund)

The Ministers directed the COMESA Secretariat to

i. Indicate clearly in the paper that the Fund will accord preferential treatment to less developed countries (LDC).

ii. Develop detailed mechanisms on how the Fund will be constituted, managed, criteria under which projects to be funded will be identified and selected, and how funding will be disbursed.

iii. The COMESA Secretariat was also directed to open negotiations with potential donors and international financial institutions for the purpose of supporting the Fund.

The COMESA Fund has been put on Agenda for the discussion at the meeting COMESA Ministers of Finance to be held in Swaziland on 8th - 9th April 2002. The support of the Finance Ministers is vital for the establishment of the Fund.

The COMESA Fund is intended to assist COMESA countries address structural imbalances in their economies as well as help develop infrastructure.

On Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs),
The meeting agreed that EPAs should be economically meaningful, politically acceptable and socially sustainable.

The meeting further agreed that EPAs should include strong developmental dimension , coherent with the overall objectives of the Cotonou Agreements and the developments needs and choices of ACP States and the region.

It was emphased that Member States should be the ones to determine what elements should be negotiated at the AU, ACP , and regional levels.

During these negotiations the concern of LDCs and the specificities of small land locked and island countries should be taken into account.

COMESA and other Regional grouping shall assist member States to carryout detailed economic impact assessment studies , to allow the region to be better to prepare for the upcoming negotiations.

The proposal from the meeting is that negotiations are to be in two tiers.

The first tier of negotiations should take place from September 2002 until 2004/2005.

Whereas the second tier of negotiations could be held between 2004/5 and 2007.

Such an approach would ensure that position adopted by the ACP during negotiations would be in harmony with other developments taking place at regional, continental, and multilateral levels.

On Regional Strategy Paper

The Regional Strategy Paper focussed on increasing economic growth and reducing poverty through high levels of economic integration.

The Draft Regional Strategy Paper and Regional Indicative Programme were therefore a joint effort the regional organisations: COMESA, EAC, IGAD and IOC. The paper was studied and amended by the experts meeting in Lusaka on 14th to 16th February 2000, and further discussed by the first Ministerial Meeting on EPAs , RSPs and COMESA Fund 18th February 2002 . The amended paper is to be transmitted as an initial proposal to the European Commission ( which was represented at this meeting,) so that they too make their initial comments.

The draft will then be worked on by the said regional organisations, and the European Commission, so that the final version is submitted for approval to the COMESA Council of Ministers meetings in May 2002 in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia.