Guyana signs the Caribbean EPA
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| Published on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 |
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GEORGETOWN, Guyana: Guyanese Ambassador to Brussels, Dr Patrick Gomes has signed the Caribbean Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) on Monday in Brussels.
The European commission (EC) in a short statement said it is delighted by Guyana’s move.
“The Commission welcomes the decision by Guyana, which will now join the EU and its Member States and the other 13 Caribbean countries that signed the EPA in Barbados last week in implementing the agreement by the end of the month” the statement said.
On October 15, when 13 Cariforum countries inked a full Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union, President Bharrat Jagdeo had promised to enter into the agreement before month end.
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| Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo. AFP PHOTO |
“We wrote the Secretary General of CARICOM today to indicate that in the spirit of compromise and given our strong commitment to regional integration and solidarity and given the fact that the EU has responded to two of our conditions that we put forward as compromise positions before our signing of the agreement that Guyana will sign the agreement sometime during this month,” the president explained.
The head of state during a media conference on Wednesday said while Guyana was successful in getting the two proposed clauses in the trade deal it will first inform the head of the African grouping of the ACP before moving ahead.
The president said Guyana will also write to the head of the African countries in the ACP informing them of the position taken since the ACP will be leading a delegation to the EU to renegotiate certain aspects of the deal.
The president by the same token extended his appreciation for the position taken by the ACP and the struggle.
He however reiterated his disappointment with the position taken by his Cariforum counterparts.
Jagdeo also expressed his satisfaction with the declaration that included the two clauses he proposed. This, he said, improved the agreement substantially, noting that signing the deal without these clauses would have been detrimental to not only Guyana but the entire region.
The clauses allow for a mandatory five-year review of the trade deal and for the revised treaty of Chaguaramas to take precedent in the case of a breach in the agreement
Jagdeo says he is impressed with the support Guyana has received in its battle against the EPA over the past months.
The official EPA signing took place between officials of the European Commission and CARIFORUM - the grouping that links CARICOM to the Dominican Republic.
Officials also said that Haiti - which recently installed a new government and has been grappling with the impact of recent natural disasters - also intends to sign the EPA before the October 31 deadline expires.
Among those finalising the agreement last week in Bridgetown were hosts Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, along with the Dominican Republic. | | | | Reads : 1308 | | | |
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