Free trade is catchword at PNG summit

The European Union has been urged to offer Papua New Guinea and the Pacific region new deals as the ongoing negotiations for a free trade deal between the EU and ACP countries called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) gets underway in Port Moresby this week.

Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) coordinator Maureen Penjueli said European parliamentarians should listen to the region and take a new approach to trade negotiations with the Pacific, PNG Post-Courier reports.

Port Moresby is hosting the 16th session of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) – European Union (EU) joint parliamentary assembly.

More than 100 parliamentarians from 27 EU countries and 79 ACP countries will debate trade and development issues affecting their relationship.

The assembly begins today.

The main topic is the ongoing negotiations for a free trade deal between the EU and ACP countries.

Negotiations for the new deals have been marked by controversy, with civil society organisations from around the globe expressing concern that the deals would undermine development in ACP countries.

Penjueli said the meeting was a chance for European parliamentarians to review the EU’s negotiations for an agreement with Pacific countries and listen to concerns from Pacific governments and civil society representatives.

She said the EU’s proposed deal could damage Pacific economies and undermine the regions fragile regional integration process.

"If Pacific ACP countries sign an EPA, they will lose some of their ability to protect local businesses and jobs," said Penjueli.

"We would also have less ability to regulate foreign investors, and to use a range of policy options to stimulate development. Now is the time for the EU to rethink the deal they are offering," she said.

The Pacific put forward a series of proposals for the agreement negotiations. Most were rejected by the European Commission, the body responsible for the EU’s trade negotiations.

Late last year, PNG and Fiji initialled interim agreements during intense negotiations to protect key exports of tuna and sugar.

Pacific Trade Ministers have since told the EU that PNG and Fiji initialled the deals because they felt they had to, and not because they felt it was a good deal.

This year, Pacific Trade Ministers argued that the EU should allow revisiting some of the rules included in the agreements.

The ministers have also put forward proposals for a more limited agreement that Pacific leaders feel the region could live with.

"Throughout the negotiations, the European Commission hasn’t been listening to Pacifics concerns, and they’re not listening now. We don’t believe that the European people would agree with the hard-line approach the commission has taken.

"We call on European parliamentarians, as representatives of European citizens, to rein in the commission, to ensure that any new trade deal with the Pacific places development at its heart, including maintaining policy space for development," she said.