Food Security and the CARIFORUM-European Union Economic Partnership Agreement

Havelock R. Brewster is presently consultant to the Caribbean Development Bank, Hon. Professor of Economics at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, UWI, and Senior Associate of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery.

By Havelock Brewster

The basic development problem of the African-Caribbean-Pacific Group of Countries (ACP), including those with relatively high incomes due to petroleum and tourism resources, is inadequate, uncompetitive and undiversified productive capacity. Yet the present Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Community (EC), that CARIFORUM countries initialed in December and are expected to sign in July, is almost entirely about market access and other trade-related modalities.

The EC makes no secret of their theory that they expect “the trade policy framework to deliver development”, notwithstanding the fact that, over the thirty-two year history of Agreements, this has just not happened. The EPA is replete with development rhetoric, most, if not all, of which is compromised by the content of the Agreement.