Top Ghanaian Economist Okays EPAs

The Director for Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA), Dr. Joseph Abbey has called on the government to take the "bull by the horn" and sign the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) since it would strengthen capacity of local enterprises to compete both locally and internationally.

He made the call at a round table discussion organized by the Delegation of the European Union under the theme "Trade and Investment Opportunities in the New Trade Order" on Thursday in Accra.

He said of the 15 countries making up ECOWAS, 12 are defined as Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and predicted that the demise of the Cotonou Agreement would have no impact on these 12 countries.

He mentioned Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire and Nigeria as countries not in the LDCs. He said Nigeria whose exports are dominated by oil does face the same threats as Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire. He said the EPAs which are a Free Trade Agreement are based on reciprocity.

Dr. Abbey said the European Union and ACP States are at different levels of development and admitted that total reciprocity would be unfair as this would give the more developed partners, that is the EU greater advantage.

To him considering all the variables at play, the Market Access Offer of the Interim EPA made by Ghana deals decisively with these concerns by placing locally produced items in an exclusion list from the free trade agreement.

This, he said, includes all agricultural and locally manufactured products. He named tomatoes, chicken, pepper and all other tropical crops grown in Ghana as some of the products which have been identified by the Ministry of Trade.

He noted that, Ghana would dismantle tariffs on 80 per cent of imports from the EU over 15 years period and said the first five years of this period would see no dismantling whatsoever.

Dr. Abbey again mentioned that in the agreement, the EU grants 100 per cent quota and tariff free access to their market for all products originating in Ghana except rice and sugar.

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