The results of a study to examine the impact of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union will be reviewed at a two day conference in St. Lucia starting on Thursday August 3rd. 

The OECS Member States along with other Members of the CARICOM and the Dominican Republic have been negotiating the Economic Partnership Agreement with the Europeans since 2004. Negotiations are scheduled to be completed at the end of 2007 so that the Agreement takes effect in 2008.

The participants at this seminar are expected to consider the findings of the study paying particular attention to the recommendations and the strategy for negotiations. Participants are drawn from Ministries of Trade and Planning in the Member States, regional private sector and non governmental organizations.

The rational for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States pursuing an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union is based on the existing relationship between both territories.

Director of the OECS Economic Affairs Division Randolf Cato explained this as member countries meet in Castries to review a draft impact assessment of a reciprocal Economic Partnership Agreement with Europe. Cato is chairing the two day meeting involving trade experts, negotiators and private sector officials from across the OECS. He says the Economic Partnership Agreement is a matter of building on the ties that exist between Europe and ACP (Afro Caribbean Pacific) Countries.

“The economic partnership agreement with Europe is a continuation of the relationship between the ACP) countries and Europe that has been ongoing since 1975 with the first Lome Convention In fact there were arrangements that preceded that. So what we are looking at is a continuation of those arrangements into a new form in terms of the Economic Partnership Agreement to enable Trade and Development Cooperation between Europe and the ACP countries and in this context the  Caribbean and most specifically the OECS.” The conference is a joint effort between the OECS Secretariat and the Economic Partnership Agreement Project Management Unit in Brussels.