Robert Wilson, tralac’s Capacity Building Manager, discusses the trade relevance of the Joint EU-Africa Strategy in a note on their website. He provides a background of the process focusing on trade issues, and calls for consultations on a regional and national level.
On the content of the draft outline of the strategy, as presented at the civil society conferenece in Bad Honnef, he says:
- “…the proposed content and value of the trade and integration cluster is unclear and appears not to have been widely considered. This might be partly the result of the current emphasis on the EPAs. This is not to suggest however that the joint strategy and the EPAs are mutually exclusive. On the contrary, questions now need to be asked (and answered) regarding their concurrent operation and interaction with one another.”
As a basis for further consultation he suggests:
- “Stakeholders might be guided by the EU’s initial strategy for working with Africa, most notably the section on trade [...]. For example, what could the joint strategy say about future EU and Africa relations under multilateral and regional trade regimes, the provision and maintenance of public goods, and the role of aid for trade?”
Read the full discussion note here.
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