Mr. President,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia , the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia and Georgia align themselves with this declaration.
It has long been the EU’s view that UNCTAD has an important mandate when it comes to regional integration and in including trade policies into broader development strategies. The EU would therefore like to thank the secretariat for the Economic Development in Africa Report 2009 and its important conclusions.
The report touches upon many potential gains from regional integration, such as intra-regional trade, factor accumulation, attraction of investment, efficiency gains, and technological spill-over. Aspects which are all vital for sustained economic growth. Having experienced the advantages of regional integration first hand, the EU is positive that this is a strategy which can propel socioeconomic development also in other regions. The EU shares the hope expressed in the report, that regional integration shall work as a stepping stone for Africa’s integration in the world economy.
Africa has a long tradition of embracing regionalism and there are important examples of promising regional integration initiatives**. As Africa’s main trading partner, the EU welcomes these initiatives. We endorse the importance of diversified partnerships and the fact that both North-South and regional cooperation can benefit members through complementarities. We welcome the optimism of the Economic Development in Africa Report 2009, as well as its recommendations and examples of best practice, which will be helpful tools in realising the potential of unexploited trade opportunities, especially for land-locked countries.
The EU is firmly committed to supporting regional integration initiatives in Africa. In the EU Strategy on Aid for Trade adopted in October 2007, we decided to focus regional Aid for Trade in African countries on initiatives which target a deepening of regional integration, such as elimination of remaining intra-regional barriers to trade in goods and services, strengthening and modernising regional customs rules and arrangements, and strengthening and harmonising standards and technical regulations. In its Communication on “Regional integration for development in ACP countries” dated October 2008, the European Commission identified the following five priority areas of support: (1) strengthening regional institutions; (2) building regional integrated markets; (3) supporting business development; (4) connecting regional infrastructure networks; and (5) developing regional policies for sustainable development. The total EU Aid for Trade volume furthermore amounted to 7,17 billion Euros in 2007.
In achieving a more predictable and cost-efficient trade environment, adequate attention should be given to the role of trade in services and trade facilitation. The EU furthermore shares the Report’s view that good infrastructure, both soft and hard, are vital elements in this regard, as they have great bearing on overall trade costs. It’s thus welcome that the European Commission in April pledged 115 million Euros to the North-South Corridor project, aimed at improving infrastructure and at removing regulatory barriers to trade in Eastern and Southern Africa. For the EU, good governance is also a form of infrastructure, and we see it as one of the most necessary elements for achieving trade and development, and for translating growth into poverty reduction.
The EU concurs with the view that the outcome of regional EPA-negotiations can be an important factor for the future of intra-African trade. Strengthening regional integration and promoting intra-African trade are two of the main priorities of the EPAs, which also contain development cooperation components intended to alleviate entrance costs and help economies make use of the opportunities resulting from trade improvements. In this respect, the progress made lately in the negotiations between the whole West African region and the EU is a good sign***.
We are glad to see that the report notes that the regional EPAs currently under negotiation share the common objective to see regional integration as a building block for Africa’s integration into the world economy. EPAs are above all instruments for development, designed to provide an open, transparent and predictable framework for trade, thus increasing competitiveness of the ACP-countries. Now that many interim EPAs have been signed, supporting EPA implementation will be critical in order to deliver the development benefits of EPAs.
To conclude, we would like to emphasise that UNCTAD is the UN's focal point for trade and development issues. In this regard, UNCTAD has a primary role in helping African countries incorporate international trade into their national development strategies, and to compete successfully on the world markets. Regional integration can play a crucial role as part of this effort, and the EU will continue to support initiatives along these lines. Especially in these times of crises, it’s important that we live up to our commitments and help the weak and most vulnerable.
For its part, the EU reaffirms its overall collective ODA targets of providing 0,56% of GNI by 2010 and 0,7 per cent of GNI by 2015, and of channelling at least 50 per cent of collective aid increases to the African continent. Last but not least, the EU underlines the importance of deepening and accelerating the implementation of the aid effectiveness commitments as set out in the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action.
We look forward to the panel this afternoon. Through the Commission’s participation, there will also be additional information regarding the EU’s work on the EPA process and the regional integration issue.
Thank you for your attention.
____________ *Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process. **Such as CEMAC, COMESA, SADC, ECOWAS and others.***Both parties have agreed to conclude a regional agreement on trade in goods and development cooperation by October 2009, and to continue negotiations on services and certain trade-related issues, such as competition and sustainable development, in a phase to be initiated in January 2010