Do the interim EPAs create opportunities for Caricom?

By Dr Clive Thomas

We saw last week that as the WTO-waiver deadline approached at the end of last year, the stratagem that might best describe the process of hasty initialling of interim EPAs was “the aversion of disaster at all costs, with agreement reached nowhere.” As a consequence the interim EPAs lacked careful thought and therefore reflect no clear economic rationale. At best they might be considered as some sort of barometer of the negotiating capacity of the African and Pacific countries concerned. As the Overseas Development Council and the Economic Policy Development Management Centre study shows, the degree of trade liberalization, whether measured by implementation schedules, coverage of items, waivers, exceptions and exclusions, or other transitional details, show no definite correlation with expected country economic variables such as income and poverty levels, developmental needs, economic openness, or even trade shares with the EU.