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The European Union proposed April 4 to remove all remaining quotas and tariffs on goods shipped into the union from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries as part of its ongoing economic partnership agreement (EPA) negotiations. The ACP countries, in exchange, would open up their own markets to EU exports by dismantling tariffs and quotas progressively, taking up to 25 years to transition some areas.
Since 1975, the ACP countries have benefited from a preferential trade status with the European Union under the Lome Convention. The convention, which granted the more than 70 ACP countries nonreciprocal duty-free access to EU markets, was a target for the World Trade Organization's (WTO's) ire. Thus, when the ACP and European Union updated their arrangements in June 2000 with the Cotonou Agreement, they agreed to create separate EPAs by Dec. 31 that would be WTO compatible -- the main sticking point being the end of non-reciprocal access to the EU markets. In short, if the ACP countries want to access EU markets freely, they have to open up their own.
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