‘EPA not about opening up Africa to cheap imports’
The Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Hans Docter, has downplayed concerns that the economic partnership agreement (EPA), being renegotiated between Europe and Africa Caribbean Pacific (ACP) regions, is meant to forcefully open Africa's markets to cheap imports from Europe.
Instead, Mr Docter said the agreement was a mutually beneficial initiative, that would help grow the economies of interested ACP and European countries, while enhancing bilateral relationships between the two sides.
He also disagreed with growing perceptions that imports from Europe were of less quality, insisting that it was China and India, that were noted for manufacturing cheap goods that eventually ended up in Africa.
"The EPA is not about forcing markets to open up to any cheap imports. You know Europe doesn't make cheap goods; the Chinese and the Indians do, yet they are allowed to trade here virtually freely," the ambassador said.
He was the guest speaker at a workshop organised by the Greater Accra Regional Secretariat of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI).
The workshop, which coincided with the regional executive elections, was meant to discuss the challenges facing businesses in the country.
Speaking on the relevance of the EPA to countries such as Ghana, Mr Docter said, "what the agreement seeks to do is to help those interested to open up to trade, of course, in quality products, from Europe that can help grow the economies of both sides."
His comments on the EPA, which is a set of trade and development agreements normally negotiated between Europe and countries in the ACP regions for economic integrations, came in the wake of mounting debate on its relevance to the economic growth of the continent.
Some civil society organisations (CSOs) and business advocacy institutions had raised issue with its intent and purpose, especially given that it virtually made it possible for people to send all kinds of goods from Europe into the ACP regions.
Some further argued that the EPA was meant to stifle the manufacturing sector in Africa, while providing ready markets for businesses and products from Europe.
The Netherlands ambassador to the country, however, disagreed, noting that such a debate was even dead from the start.
The Vice-President of the AGI in charge of the small-scale sector, Mr Samuel Appenteng, who was also at the function, declined to comment on the matter.
By Maxwell Adombila Akalaare/Daily Graphic/Ghana