02 Jun 2016

Botswana continues to enjoy the benefits of the African Caribbean Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) Cotonou partnership.

Investment Trade and Industry minister, Mr Vincent Seretse who attended the ACP Group 8th summit in Papua New Guinea said in an interview that  it was through the Cotonou partnership agreement that Botswana entered into several trade agreements.

Partnerships such as the Southern Development Economic community –Economic Partnership Agreement (SADC–EPA) has assisted in the creation of the right conditions for trade and investments thus giving  the country access to EU markets without any duties or quotas with  better trading terms mainly in agriculture products particularly beef exports.

Further, the minister said EPA enhanced trade through very flexible rules of origin (ROO'S) which facilitated the intra-regional trade and industrialisation across Africa.

Also, the minister said EPA's brought in tailor made approaches to regional needs, in other words they are the fruits of the regional negotiations to make sure they take into account regional needs and each country's sensitive conditions.

With regards to the strength of ACP as a bloc politically and economically, Mr Seretse said the agreement has strengthened and boosted trade relations within the group. Furthermore, he said there has been more transparency in the sense that political dialogue has become the integral part of ACP-EU relationship.

Mr Seretse said the fact that countries within the ACP Group have disparities in terms of economy and infrastructure has been a major challenge  which often affects negotiations. Ends