Action

 

 

1611 Ghana interim Economic Partnership Agreement and the European Parliament

The International Trade Committee of European Parliament (INTA) voted on the Ghana interim Economic Partnership Agreement (iEPA) on 11th November 2016. The outcome of the vote was as follows: 27 in favour, 9 against and 1 abstention. This means that the GREENS, GUE, 5Star and at least 2 S&D voted against. The Ghana interim Economic Partnership Agreement may soon go into application so that Ghana’s trade preferences will no longer be based on Cotonou or MAR1528 but on the iEPA itself. This does not mean that Ghana will start implementing the agreement soon.

 

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1607 Letter to the Members of the International Trade Group at the European Parliament

The European Commission has proposed delegated acts that would see preferential market access withdrawn from 6 African countries: Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland. The Secretariat has contact with members of the International Trade (INTA) group at the European Parliament and has sent personal letters asking them to reject these proposals as they cannot be justified and would unnecessarily cause economic damage to developing countries in Africa. 

 

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1606 Conference on European Trade Policies and Africa

The AEFJN Trade policy officer, Jose Luis Gutierrez Aranda had a workshop session on “The European Trade Policies and Africa” with a group from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (Germany), who visited Brussels on 13th June, 2016.  The participants were interested in politics, development and European policies.  The session primarily focused on trade policies of the EU, especially free trade agreements (EPAs, TTIP, CETA, and ISDS) and the consequences that all these economic treaties will have for the population, especially in Africa.

 

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1412 Meetings with Members of the European Parliament

 

As a member of the platform ‘Brussels Trade Bunch’, AEFJN has participated in a round of meetings with the coordinators of political parties on the International Trade Committee at the European Parliament. The aim of these meetings is to present the concerns of the civil society regarding European Trade policy and its consequences for the South. The MEPs were questioned about a number of issues: their priorities for International Trade for the coming 5 years, how they view the Agenda of the European Commission, their assessment of the new Trade commissioner, Cecilia Malmström, the ongoing FTA negotiations, the Fair Trade dossier, the Conflict Minerals dossier and the EPA ratification process. AEFJN insisted on the need to push for a fairer EU trade strategy that contributes to sustainable development and the well-being of citizens (high levels of environmental protection, decent jobs in Europe and in Africa) and not only growth for a few.

 

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1405 ACTION AEFJN FOR ALTERNATIVE TRADE

Due to the unfair trade policy on International trade, AEFJN invites to everybody, religious institutes, Christian organizations and any other group to address a petition letter to your Governments, World Trade Organization, World Bank, and European Commission, to adopt an alternative Trade policy to eliminate some of the structural causes of poverty and strength the economy of developing countries. The new Trade policies must respect human rights, be approved by Parliaments, and include society participation. AEFJN proposes you to address the petition letter that you can find at the end of this document and send it at least to three of the actors with competences on Trade policies. You can adapt the petition letter to your country and reality. We include as well in this document the address of the international institutions.

Let’s work together for a new model of Trade. Let’s eliminate one of the structural causes of poverty by promoting fairer conditions for developing countries! You can find a letter model that you can adapt to the reality of your country HERE.

 

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1405 Meeting with Minister Adviser of the Madagascar Embassy

On May 7th AEFJN met Mr. Ibrahim Norbert Richard, Minister Adviser of the Madagascar Embassy in Brussels. AEFJN was represented by Jose Luis Gutierrez Aranda and was accompanied by Dr. Ramahatafandry Voahangy a member of the Belgium platform for international health, Because-Health. During the meeting the AEFJN delegation expressed its concern about the current situation of land grabbing in Madagascar, the risk of the people losing access to medicines of quality and the consequences of the interim EPA implementation ratified by Madagascar in 2012.

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131205 Letter on Economic Agreement with Africa to EU Ministers of Development

Meeting between AEFJN and the European Commission

On 26th April AEFJN met Mr Yves Lecomte, the EU coordinator of negotiations for the Economic Partnership Agreements with Central Africa. AEFJN was represented by Sr Annie Girard, executive secretary of the Cameroon Antenna and Jose Luis Gutierrez Aranda, a member of the AEFJN secretariat in Brussels.

 

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EPA Letter to national governments

EPA Letter to Members of European Parliament

Screening "The Big Banana Movie"

EPA Briefing Paper EU-AU Summit November 2010

Joint letter to the Council of the EU

Letter to Commissioner De Gucht on Namibia

Trade and Climate Change Caravan in Brussels