Europa > European Union in the World > European Union @ United Nations > EU trade deliverables

Site map | A-Z Index | Internships/Jobs | Links | Contact us

English Español Français

 

 

EU trade deliverables

1. EVERYTHING BUT ARMS (EBA)

The EBA initiative commits the EU to removal of all remaining quotas and tariffs on all products, except arms, originating in the LDCs. The initiative gives LDCs unprecedented market access to their biggest trading partner, making the EU by far the most open trading partner for LDCs.

On 26 February 2001 the EU Council of Ministers approved the European Commission's proposal to provide duty and quota free access to the EU for all products originating in the LDCs, except arms and ammunition. This "Everything but Arms" initiative extends free access to all agricultural products, including meat and dairy products, fruit and vegetables, cereals and alcoholic beverages.

Transition periods are foreseen only for the most sensitive products: rice, bananas and sugar. Here too, however, liberalization will be phased in: between 1 January 2002 and 1 January 2006 for fresh bananas; between 1 July 2006 and 1 July 2009 for sugar; and between 1 September 2006 and 1 September 2009 for rice. To provide effective market access in the run-up to full liberalization for rice and sugar, duty-free tariff quotas will be opened as from the 2001/2002 marketing year. These will be based on best LDC exports to the EU in the recent past, increased immediately by an annual 15% growth rate.


2. TRADE RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE (TRTA) & TRADE RELATED CAPACITY BUILDING (TRCB)

Technical assistance and capacity building programmes for developing countries in the area of trade. Trade related technical assistance and capacity building encompasses among others - assistance for:

• Participation in the World Trade Organization (WTO), including by having a better representation in Geneva;
  
  
• Implementation of trade agreements, including WTO agreements. This can take the form of training of officials, assistance for domestic legislation, equipment;
  
  
• Preparation for trade negotiations, including in the WTO or regionally. This includes training of officials, analysis for identification of interest and subject matter, strategy;
  
  
• Building institutional capacity at central government or regional level, so as to allow countries to better participate in trade. This can include support for customs authorities or veterinary authorities, for instance by providing laboratories with the technological skills to help meet sanitary and phyto-sanitary requirements.

In addition, in particular, support for infrastructure (for instance ports, roads), and building productive capacity is directly relevant for the trade capacity of a given country.

Trade and integration into the world trade system is one of the key priorities of European development aid. The European Community and its Member States are among the largest contributors to trade related assistance, bilaterally and via multilateral programmes.

The EC and Member States' contributions represent more than one third of the total contributions to the Trust Fund of the Integrated Framework for trade related technical assistance to LDCs; Member States contributions represent more than half of total contributions to the WTO Global Trust Fund; and EC and Member States contribution to UNCTAD trade related technical assistance is also significant.

In addition, EC Member States have contributed significantly to the creation of the Advisory Center for WTO Law and to other programmes, such as the JITAP and the ITC.

Besides contributions to multilateral programmes, trade related technical assistance and capacity building is a core element of European Community bilateral development assistance. Thus, the Commission has over the period from 1996 to 2000, provided €709,530,421 (USD 627,224,892) in support for trade related technical assistance or € 177 million per year on average (USD). This comprises projects for trade policy and trade related regulation or trade development as one of the key objectives.

Finally, the Commission provides trade related capacity building in a broader sense, including for private sector development, productive and export capacity, and trade related support services. One recent example of such assistance is the EU-ACP Export Business Assist Scheme (EBAS), which aims at activating the market for trade related support services in ACP countries. This scheme has a start up grant fund of €20 million (USD 17,68 million).


3. INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR TRADE RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO LDS (IF) & INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK TRUST FUND

The Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance, including for Human and Institutional Capacity-Building, to Support Least-Developed Countries in Their Trade and Trade-Related Activities generally referred to as the Integrated Framework (IF) - was endorsed at the 1997 High Level Meeting on LDCs.

Six core organizations are working together with the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to coordinate their trade assistance programmes through an Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to these countries. These agencies are the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Trade Center (ITC), the United Nations Conference on Trade and (UNCTAD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). LDCs can invite other multilateral and bilateral development partners to participate in the Integrated Framework process.

The Integrated Framework is a concrete outcome of the WTO Plan of Action for the Least Developed Countries, agreed at the Ministerial Conference of WTO in December 1996. The six agencies agreed to develop and apply it on a case-by-case basis to meet the needs identified by LDCs, to assist them to enhance their trade opportunities, to respond to market demands and better integrate them into the multilateral trading system. The Integrated Framework approach was endorsed by the High-Level Meeting on Integrated Initiatives for LDCs' Trade Development held at WTO in October 1997 and subsequently by all participating organizations. It seeks to increase the benefits that LDCs derive from the trade-related assistance provided by the core agencies and other development partners. This approach is based on being:

• Demand-driven, to ensure that trade-related technical assistance activities are based on demand and meet each LDC's needs effectively;
  
  
• Ownership-oriented, to enhance each LDC's ownership of trade-related technical assistance programmes; and
  
  
• Resource-efficient, to enable each agency and other development partners to increase their efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of trade-related technical assistance.

While the need and usefulness of the IF is fully recognised, it is clear that the IF in its initial form, has not been fully effective over the past years. Following a thorough review in 2000, it was therefore agreed to create a Pilot Scheme to provide the basis for the further activities of the Integrated Framework. A Trust Fund was created to fund the activities under the Pilot Scheme. The EC and Member States are the most important contributors to this Trust Fund. Contributions amount to € 2.3 million and thus represent more than half of total bilateral contributions. The EC supports the further work of the IF pilot scheme.


4. THE EU-ACP COTONOU AGREEMENT

The EU-ACP Cotonou Agreement is a global agreement that encompasses aid and trade between the parties: the 77 ACP countries (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) and the European Union (the Community and its 15 Member States). The agreement was signed in June in 2000 in Cotonou (Benin), and is generally referred to as the Cotonou Agreement.

The agreement has a 20-year duration, with a revision foreseen every five years. The agreement contains a financial protocol, which indicates the resources allocated to the ACP countries under the European Development Fund (EDF) for five-year periods. For the first five years beginning in 2000, EDF provides for 15,2 billion for the ACP countries. In addition, € 10 billion from preceding EDF are available for ACPs.

Economic and trade cooperation constitutes one of the main pillars of ACP-EU cooperation. The currently applicable tariff preferences for all ACP countries will be maintained until 31 December 2007. From 2008, these preferences will be replaced by Regional Economic Partnership Agreement (REPAs), for which negotiations will commence in September 2002. They will include provisions for co-operation in trade related areas.


5. THE EU PROGRAMME OF ACTION FOR ACCELERATED ACTION TARGETED AT MAJOR COMMUNICABLE DISEASES WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF POVERTY REDUCTION

On 20 September 2000, the Commission adopted the Communication on Accelerated Action targeted at major communicable diseases within the context of poverty reduction (COM (2000) 585). It focuses on the need for immediate action targeted against three major diseases namely Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

The Communication constituted the basis for consultations with the widest possible number of interested parties at the Round Table, which took place in Brussels on 28 September 2000. The Round Table expressed a clear and unambiguous message, namely the urgent need for a joint action to achieve results in the fight to help the sick in developing countries hit by infectious diseases.

On 21 February 2001 the Commission adopted a follow up to the September Communication in the form of a Programme for Action: Accelerated action on HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis in the context of Poverty Reduction (COM (2001) 96) setting out the activities that should be pursued by the EU during the next five years. The Programme outlines the actions to be taken within the next five years concentrating mainly on:

• optimizing the impact of health, AIDS and population interventions
  
  
• strengthening of pharmaceutical policies and capacity building
  
  
• developing capacity for local production of pharmaceuticals
  
  
• establishing a global tiered pricing system for pharmaceuticals
  
  
• reducing tariffs and other costs on pharmaceuticals
  
  
• supporting WTO developing country members in implementing the TRIPs Agreement and promoting an international discussion on the link between the Agreement and public health protection issues
  
  
• strengthening and increasing support for research and development including capacity building and incentives for development of specific global goods.

This action plan forms the basis of the current Commission policy with regard to access to health, including the issue of access to affordable medicines. The General Affairs Council confirmed this policy by adopting a supportive resolution on Monday, 14 May 2001.

| Top |

Advanced search