EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy will travel to Mauritius for two days of talks on the framework for an Economic and Partnership Agreement (EPA), the EU executive said.
"The EPA negotiations with Eastern and Southern Africa will follow a hands-on approach: development is the objective, trade one of the tools," Lamy said on the eve of the trip.
"Tearing down barriers to trade among themselves is the necessary complement to the almost full access to the EU market already enjoyed by these countries," added a commission statement.
The commission underlined that the EU has already committed more than €700-million for supporting trade-related activities and regional integration in the eastern and southern African countries.
The 16 countries at the weekend talks are: Burundi, Comores, Djibouti, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi,Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The countries, with a total population is 280-million, are all members of the 77-nation Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP), which includes some of the world's poorest nations.
"Many of these countries belong to the poorest in the world and have suffered some of the harshest conflicts and humanitarian crisis in Africa," said the commission.
"Economic integration is expected to help preventing in future the risks of new conflicts," it added.
The European Union is set to expand from 15 to 25 members on May 1, boosting its population to 450-million people. – Sapa-AFP.
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE SAVE THIS ARTICLE FEEDBACK
To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
