EU and Eastern and Southern African states to finalize Economic Partnership Agreement in Mauritius
via Le Mauricien3 min read
Mauritius will host a significant diplomatic and economic event next Wednesday, where the European Union and four Eastern and Southern African states—Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, and Seychelles—will officially conclude negotiations to deepen their Economic Partnership Agreement EPA. This follows over six years of discussions. Maroš Šefčovič, European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations, and Transparency, will visit Mauritius on June 10 to participate in the closing ceremony alongside trade ministers from the African nations. Representatives from the European Commission, the EU Delegation to Madagascar and Comoros, and government authorities will also attend, with Mauritius represented by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ritish Ramful. The conclusion of these talks marks the culmination of a process launched in October 2019, known as the Deepening Process, aimed at enhancing the existing EPA. The interim EPA, provisionally applied since May 2012, already links the EU with Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles, Comoros, and Zimbabwe, with Comoros joining in 2019. The new, expanded agreement will cover thirteen strategic areas, including trade in services, investments, rules of origin, trade facilitation, customs cooperation, agriculture, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property rights, competition policy, sustainable development, transparency in public procurement, and dispute resolution mechanisms.
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Le Mauricien.
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