More than 50 trade advocates from across Africa south of the Sahara will meet in Accra for four days to discuss issues of globalization and the effect of the economic partnership agreements on African economies. The meeting is taking place against the looming global recession and the triple crisis of food, fuel and finance. The shifts and re-distribution of global economic power with the rise of China and other developing powers, a fact which contributed to the collapse of the Doha round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks last July.
Thus while the uncertainties threaten to inflict the worst brunt of any global downturn on Africa, the shift of the power hierarchies also provide new openings and choice in global economic relations. It is in this context that the Africa Trade Network (ATN) has been campaigning against long-term lock-in trade and economic agreements that privileged colonial-style relations with the old economic powers at the direct expense of upgrading new relationship such as South-South and intra-African cooperation.
The four-day meeting will therefore focus principally on the new challenges emerging for the network’s flagship campaign against the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union, the world largest trading bloc, and sub-regions of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific. The ACP group of countries are essentially former European colonies and are among the poorest regions of the world.
