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Local MEP welcomes EU-Caribbean trade agreements

Neena Gill, Labour MEP for the West Midlands has welcomed the European Parliament’s green light for a trade agreement between the EU and Caribbean countries. But she stressed the need for this agreement to be based on an equal partnership.

Neena said: “Only through equal partnerships can we help other countries experience the benefits of economic progress. The new EU trade Commissioner, Baroness Ashton, has made the signing of this Economic Partnership Agreement a priority and she is to be applauded for finding consensus on this issue.”

In October 2008, 14 Caribbean states signed an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union. The process of ratification has not yet been completed, but until that time, the EU and the member states of Cariforum will provisionally apply the EPA.

Clauses in the Parliament Resolution on the agreement regarding intellectual property rights will make access to generic medicines easier and safer, and the suggestion that countries choose their own rate of development will help to prevent sudden and damaging liberalisation.

Neena continued: “A recent Parliament mission to Guyana that I went on demonstrated that trade – if harnessed for good – can have a remarkably powerful affect. But trade agreements must be based on frank and open dialogue, and on mutual respect.”