On May 10th 2008 Caribbean trade ministers issued a statement on bananas arguing that the recent EPA will shield the region’s banana preferences from further WTO challenge. Nevertheless ministers expressed ‘their grave concern’ over a possible reduction in the EU’s MFN duty on bananas in response to the WTO panel ruling. The statement noted the 20% expansion in MFN-country banana exports since January 2006 and argued that any further reduction in the duty would ‘severely hamper the ability of Caribbean producers to compete in the EU market’. It noted once again the Caribbean’s exclusion from bilateral negotiations between the EU and MFN suppliers. ‘Ministers reaffirmed that, if the outcome of the WTO Doha Development Agenda negotiations are to be balanced, there must be suitable treatment for products that are the subject of long-standing preferences, and that if this were not to be the case, Caribbean countries would find it difficult to join in any consensus’.