1. Europe and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs): trade, aid and the ACP states

2. LDC states LDC states, defined by the UN, are those states who are both the most impoverished and vulnerable Defined by: o low gross national income (GNI) o weak human assets o high degree of economic vulnerability

3. ACP states 79 ACP states (49 sub-Saharan, 16 from the Caribbean and 15 from the Pacific) EU–ACP partnership based around three main pillars namely: o Development co-operation funded by European Development Fund (EDF) o Economic and trade co-operation through economic partnership agreements (EPAs) to ensure that the ACP agreements are compatible with WTO membership o A stronger political dimension with a focus on sustained political dialogue

4. Contonou Agreement Provides current framework for EU–ACP partnership Cover 20 years from 2000 Aim to integrate ACPs into global economy Reduce poverty through trade

5. ACP regions ACP states are divided into seven regions o five in Africa o one in the Caribbean o one for the Pacific Each region signs an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU

6. EPAs A single agreement which is sufficiently flexible to account for individual states needs. These needs are reflective of: o Individual states geography and structure o The need for ACP states to push their own development strategies and trajectories o The need to ensure both civil society and business are included o The level of economic development

7. EPAs ACP states ensure that their exports comply with EU standards Regionalism reflects that ACP states take charge of their own development strategies and that regional trade is very low Many states suffer from: o core infrastructure to enable trade o an absence of effective competition within key business service (such as logistics) o high administration costs which keeps the cost of the regional transmission of flows high

8. The EU and Africa Conventional relationship based on dependency But Africa is a diverse continent – 54 states High expectation of growth in coming decades Also exhibiting higher rates of political and economic stability

9. Africa EPAs EPAStates West Africa Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea–Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Mauritania Central Africa Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo – Democratic Republic of (Kinshasa), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, São Tomé and Principe Eastern and Southern Africa Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe East African Community Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda Southern African Development Community Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland

10. EU and Africa EPAs EPAs are based on a number of key principles namely: o Reciprocity: the aim is to remove any discrimination within the relations between the EU and African states whilst complying with its commitments to the WTO o Regionalism: partners within EPAs are encouraged to enter into EPAs with other states within the context of regional groupings o Special Impact: the EPAs open up the possibility of allow some remaining preferential treatment for those lest developed states who were seen as the main beneficiaries of the prior agreements

11. EU–Africa Joint Strategy 2007 Moving co-operation beyond development into areas of joint concern such as employment Addressing areas of global concern such as the environment Stimulating better regional co-operation to find pan-African solutions to its problems Improving the participation of civil society in this process of change

12. Are EPAs Beneficial? Could splinter regionalism Loss of tariff revenue from trade The potential for negative effects on multilateralism Asymmetry of power between EU and African states Use of unrealistic deadlines