not compatible with the WTO Regula-tions.
As such, there was the need to preventfurther such agreement from being enteredinto, as a result of which, when the nextagreement, which was the CotonouPartnership Agreement, was entered into,the EU obtained a waiver to allow thatagreement to run until the end of 2007. It was anticipated that, within thatperiod, the various groupings withinAfrican, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)States that had been defined fornegotiations would have concluded theEconomic Partnership Agreements (EPA)with the EU. In our case, it was anticipatedthat, that was going to be the EconomicCommunity of West African States(ECOWAS) Partnership Agreement withthe EU. As of the end of December 2007, theEPA between the EU and ECOWAS wasnot concluded. So, at the time, it wasdecided to negotiate an initial interim EPAto protect Ghana's market access to theEU. That interim EPA is what we are beingcalled on to ratify today. Mr Speaker, itwill continue to give our export duty-freeand quota-free access to that market. Mr Speaker, the reason this is importantis because, we have built up the non-traditional export sector largely on theback of this preferential market access.Over the last couple of years, in any year,about 35 per cent to 40 per cent of ourexports go to the EU. A lot of these arevalue added exports or exports that wouldotherwise be covered by quotas. In the event that we did not havepreferential market access, these exportswould not be competitive with similarcompeting products from other non-ACPStates mainly from Latin America and Asia.
The fact of the matter is that, there aresome countries that would continue tohave duty free access to the EU marketbecause they are classified as “leastdeveloping countries” and can continueto export to that market under the“Everything but Arms Initiative”. Ghanadoes not come within that categorisationand therefore will not qualify. Within the West African region, we arefour countries that do not qualify formarket access under the “Everything ButArms Initiative”: Nigeria, Ghana, La Coted'Ivoire and Cape Verde. Mr Speaker, the reason we do not havean ECOWAS EPA is because, Nigeria andThe Gambia have refused to sign theAgreement and the arrangement was that,all 15 ECOWAS member States wouldhave to sign and two-thirds ratify for theAgreement to come into effect. Mr Speaker, it is not entirely surprisingthat, Nigeria has taken that stancebecause, over 90 per cent of their exportin any event are oil. As far as theirmanufacturing sector is concerned, themarket of over 160 million people is asignificantly large market for them not tobe worried by the impact of the inabilityto export out of the region. However, Mr Speaker, for us, we do nothave the same luxury. Therefore, there isthe need to protect, not only the jobs ofpeople who are employed in thebusinesses that directly export to the EU,but also the jobs of people who areemployed in businesses that supply tothose companies. When you look at the effect that hasbeen created by the development of thesupply chains of businesses which exportto the EU, Mr Speaker, you will see that, ifwe do not take steps to protect this marketaccess, there will be a significant loss ofjobs within a very short period of time.
Mr Speaker, the opening that we arerequested to do -- The opening of marketaccess is not going to be an immediatereduction of all duties of all EU importscoming into Ghana. Under the Agreement,what happens is that, there are going tobe three 5-year phases. Within those 5-year phases, we have categorised thegroups of tariff bans that would beliberalised. Mr Speaker, the reason I believe it wasnegotiated that way, was to give us timeto be able to adapt and also put in placethe requisite measures to ensure that, thisAgreement was implemented fairly. Mr Speaker, before I sit down, I wouldlike to add that, one of the reasons thisAgreement and the continued marketaccess on these terms is important for usis because, apart from the fact that ourproducts have had duty-free and quota-free access, it is only products that metthe rules of origin criteria that wereallowed to have duty-free and quota-freeaccess. Rules of origin meant that, you had tohave 85 per cent local content. It is that 85per cent local content that has created thelocal supply chains. This means that,businesses other than those businessesthat directly export would be impacted ifthis Agreement is not signed. Mr Speaker, we must also be aware that,given the fact that our immediateneighbour, La Cote d'Ivoire has signedan interim EPA with the EU at the timewhen it was initially negotiated and at thetime when we were continuing with theECOWAS EPA negotiations, they are nowin a position where they are sitting pretty. With or without an ECOWAS EPA, theyhave confirmed that, they will continue
to have market access to the EU. So it hasallowed that whole element of con-sistency and stability for businesses thathave the EU as their target market whohave located in La Cote d'Ivoire and whoare producing in Ghana. Businesses inGhana that fear that they would not beable to continue to have that marketaccess are already making plans to moveto La Cote d'Ivoire, if necessary. Mr Speaker, the loss of jobs for us andthe impact on our economy would betremendous. For these reasons, I believethat, notwithstanding the fact that this isnot a perfect Agreement -- Indeed, we allwould prefer to have a situation where wewould continue to have market access onmuch more favourable terms in order tobe able to maintain the preferences andthe businesses we have and support thejobs we have. I would urge this House to adopt theReport of the Committee to ratify theAgreement so that we can haveconsistency for our private sector thatrelies on market access to the EU market.
Question proposed.
