LISBON (Thomson Financial) - EU leaders said efforts to conclude new trade agreements with Africa were
struggling, as the two continents Sunday ended a landmark summit
aimed at forging a new relationship.
Asked how the negotiations on the so-called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) were going, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi told reporters at the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon: 'Not easy.'
'The African countries are more and more afraid to be in some way pushed down by sudden competition, so they are asking for guarantees,' said Prodi, a former head of the European Commission.
Current European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also conceded the EPA negotiations were 'difficult.'
The EU is seeking new trade agreements with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations to replace the current preferential system that has been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organisation.
Wary of China's growing push into Africa, the EU is keen to nail down the new trade agreements before the expiration of the existing deals at year's end.
The gathering -- only the second ever such meeting -- was billed as an opportunity to forge a relationship of genuine equals.
But the dispute over trade, as well tensions over Zimbabwe and Darfur, exposed the faultlines in their relations.
In a final declaration, the summit participants said 'both sides stress the need for the EPA process to be supportive of Africa's regional and continental integration agenda.'
tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com vs COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
Asked how the negotiations on the so-called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) were going, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi told reporters at the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon: 'Not easy.'
'The African countries are more and more afraid to be in some way pushed down by sudden competition, so they are asking for guarantees,' said Prodi, a former head of the European Commission.
Current European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also conceded the EPA negotiations were 'difficult.'
The EU is seeking new trade agreements with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations to replace the current preferential system that has been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organisation.
Wary of China's growing push into Africa, the EU is keen to nail down the new trade agreements before the expiration of the existing deals at year's end.
The gathering -- only the second ever such meeting -- was billed as an opportunity to forge a relationship of genuine equals.
But the dispute over trade, as well tensions over Zimbabwe and Darfur, exposed the faultlines in their relations.
In a final declaration, the summit participants said 'both sides stress the need for the EPA process to be supportive of Africa's regional and continental integration agenda.'
tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com vs COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.