West Africa: EU and West Africa agree next phase of negotiations of EPAs

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson met with West African Ministers on the 27th October in Brussels to agree on the next phase of the Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations between the two regions. Ministers agreed to start negotiations in 2006 and endorsed a calendar setting out a precise timetable for the talks. This will mean starting work on drafting the text and legal provisions of the EPA and issues connected with market access, including the effect of an EPA on productive sectors in West Africa. On October 27th 2005, Commissioner Mandelson held bilateral talks with a West African delegation led by the president of the West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Mr Soumaïla Cissé.