The ACP-EU Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) are supposed to be special trade agreements which, like the Cotonou Agreement that spawned them, aim mainly to ensure the development of ACP countries and their gradual integration into the global economy. They must be compatible with the rules of the World Trade Organisation. In addition to the gradual nature of any trade liberalisation among ACP countries, the EPAs must fulfil a second criterion, i.e., asymmetry, which means that they must take account of the difference in the levels of social and economic development between the European Union and ACP countries. At the same time, the European Union will assist ACP countries and businesses to implement the necessary structural and macroeconomic reforms by building their capacities so as to enable them to better cope with the challenges of competition and globalisation.
This transitional phase of ACP-EU trade cooperation from 2000 to 2007 required the approval of the WTO, which was hard-won. In November 2001, the determination of the ACP countries, bolstered by the unstinting support of the European Union at the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference, enabled them to claim a decisive victory, perhaps for their future: they obtained a WTO waiver for the trade chapter of the Cotonou Agreement.
On that occasion, the ACP Group stood out as one of the emerging Groups from the developing world. It was firm but realistic, opting resolutely for free trade while remaining determined to protect its vital interests.
Pacific ACP–European Union Economic Partnership Agreement
Following the expiry of the Cotonou Agreement, which guided trade and economic relations between the EU and the ACP, Fiji, as part of PACP, endeavoured to finalise a WTO-compatible regional EPA with the EU. The EU is a traditional market for Fijian sugar, and lately, Fijian fish, garments, mineral water and a few agricultural commodities are also establishing their presence in this lucrative market of approximately 507 million people comprising 28 EU member states. Fiji in 2009 signed the Interim EPA to avoid market disruptions of its exports and continued in the regional effort to conclude a development-friendly and mutually beneficial Comprehensive EPA negotiation.
Fiji did not initially ratify the Interim EPA due to contentious issues such as the non-availability of development cooperation and global sourcing for fresh, frozen and chilled tuna. The Interim EPA also included clauses such as limitation on Export Taxes, Circulation of Goods, non-execution clause, MFN clause and infant industry protection, to name a few, which impinge on Fiji’s policy space to realise its development and industrial growth aspirations. As a commitment to the process, Fiji in 2014 provisionally applied the Interim EPA to avoid trade disruptions. Fiji is committed to the regional efforts to quickly conclude a development-friendly Comprehensive EPA benefitting both the PACPs and the EU.