At the ACP Ministerial meeting, on 19 November a resolution was adopted on sugar which called on the EU to:
- urgently address any problems arising from ‘the implementation of the EC Import Regulation (No. 828/2009)’;
- ensure the maintenance of a ‘managed market which ensures an adequate level of remunerative price which safeguards the interests of all ACP sugar suppliers’;
- maintain preferential access until ‘after 2015’;
- extend the implementation period of accompanying measures programmes beyond 2013, including through the provision of additional assistance to address the impact of preference erosion;
- ‘oppose, in the WTO negotiations, both the re-opening of the July 2008 convergence package and the concept of reverse engineering’;
- implement any tariff cuts for sugar and high sugar-content products in equal instalments over ‘ten years, following a two-year moratorium as detailed in the July 2008 convergence package’, ensure that under the sensitive-product provisions the lowest possible additional TRQ is established, that binding takes place on the basis of specific tariffs (not ad valorem duties) and that the special safeguard clause is maintained.
Source
ACP Secretariat, Resolution of ACP Ministers, ACP/25/014/09, 19 November 2009
http://www.acp-eu-trade.org/library/library_detail.php?library_detail_id...
The measures called for by ACP Ministers are intended to ensure that in developing its policy positions on sugar in both bilateral negotiations and the multilateral WTO negotiations, the EU fully takes account of ACP interests in the sugar sector. This is essential, since in the cut-and-thrust of these negotiations, EC negotiators are likely to place priority on the benefits to be derived by EU businesses from the concessions granted on market access for sugar. In this context it should be borne in mind that EU sugar milling companies are increasingly ‘international’ in their production and associated trading operations. Indeed, in the coming years it seems likely that the majority of the top nine EU sugar producers (which control some 80% of the EU sugar market) will have the majority of their sugar production located outside the EU. In this context, the commitment of these EU sugar-refining companies to the maintenance of extensive tariff protection around EU sugar markets is likely to weaken.
It is against this background that the articulation of clear and strong ACP positions on sugar issues is essential.
The measures called for by ACP Ministers are intended to ensure that in developing its policy positions on sugar in both bilateral negotiations and the multilateral WTO negotiations, the EU fully takes account of ACP interests in the sugar sector. This is essential, since in the cut-and-thrust of these negotiations, EC negotiators are likely to place priority on the benefits to be derived by EU businesses from the concessions granted on market access for sugar. In this context it should be borne in mind that EU sugar milling companies are increasingly ‘international’ in their production and associated trading operations. Indeed, in the coming years it seems likely that the majority of the top nine EU sugar producers (which control some 80% of the EU sugar market) will have the majority of their sugar production located outside the EU. In this context, the commitment of these EU sugar-refining companies to the maintenance of extensive tariff protection around EU sugar markets is likely to weaken.
It is against this background that the articulation of clear and strong ACP positions on sugar issues is essential.