CM/Res.1219(L)
RESOLUTION ON NEGOTIATIONS FOR A FOURTH ACP/EEC CONVENTION
The Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity, meeting in its Fiftieth Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 17 to 22 July, 1989,
Having considered the report of the Seventeenth Session of the Permanent Steering Committee, particularly the item relating to the current negotiations for a fourth ACP/EEC Convention,
Recalling its resolution CM/Res.1194 (XLIX) adopted at its Forty-ninth Ordinary Session,
Conscious of the fact that Lome Convention constitutes a very important framework for North-South Co-operation, given its special and differential treatment for ACP states,
Concerned about the continued deterioration of the economic situation in ACP countries and the fact that the structure ACP/EEC co-operation particularly with regard to commercial co-operation has not meaningfully changed since Lome I,
Noting that EEC total imports from ACP states have continued to decline and that commodity prices have been falling in real terms while the quantum of EDF resources has remained too low to have a meaningful impact on ACP countries,
Concerned about the likely effects on the EEC/ACP co-operation arrangements in the face of the proposed 1992 European Single Market,
Convinced that the present negotiations for a Fourth ACP/EEC Convention are aiming at preserving, consolidating and expanding an efficient and effective co-
operation between the EEC and the ACP for the mutual benefit of our various countries:
REQUESTS the ACP negotiators to ensure the improvement on previous conventions be not confined to broad generalities concerning objectives and scope of co-operation, but cover substantially areas that are of major concern for ACP countries;
REQUESTS FURTHER that ACP negotiators ensure that the STABEX system under the Fourth ACP/EEC Convention compensates for losses incurred on foreign exchange earnings from export commodities of the ACP states;
REITERATES the fact that a long-term strategy aimed at improving production, marketing and distribution of commodities as well as local processing remains a key element in solving the present range of problems faced by ACP countries and in this regard requests the negotiators to ensure that Lome IV includes a substantial technical and financial assistance from EEC to ACP states;
RECOMMENDS “the Memorandum of Africa’s commodities problems and recommended measures for the revitalization and diversification of the section” to serve as guidelines on negotiations on commodities;
CALLS UPON the ACP negotiators to ensure that EEC countries commit themselves to halting and reversing protectionism as well as eliminating the escalation of tariff and non-tariff barriers affecting the exports of ACP states;
FURTHER CALLS UPON the negotiators to ensure relaxation of the rules of origin which in their present form discourage processing of ACP raw materials destined for the EEC market;
REAFFIRMS its previous decisions and resolutions relating to the issues under negotiations seen as regional co-operation, human rights, situation
in Southern Africa, external indebtedness and dumping of toxic wastes which should continue to serve as African position in the on-negotiations;
ENDORSES the African Alternative Framework on Structural Adjustment Programmes adopted by the African Ministers of Economic Planning and Finance as constituting the guidelines on negotiations on Structural Adjustment Programmes;
URGES the EEC countries to look more positively on a possible review of the perennial problem of EDF allocations as well as the improvement of both the quality and quantity of aid and URGES FURTHER the EEC to create under Lome IV a financial facility to assist in the local processing of African mineral and agricultural raw materials into tradable and exportable products and further recommends the establishment of mechanisms for mobilizing technical and scientific know-how to achieve this purpose;
URGES FURTHER the EEC countries to recognize that there can be no meaningful ACP/EEC trade arrangements without the protection of ACP Preferential margins of guaranteed access and to this end REQUESTS the European community countries to be more flexible during the negotiations in the area of trade barriers;
CALLS UPON the Secretary-General of the OAU and the Executive Secretary of ECA to undertake, with the technical and financial support of the relevant regional and international organizations, particularly ADB and UNDP, an exhaustive study on the implications of the 1992 European Single Market on the Economics of the African countries and submit to the Permanent Steering Committee of the OAU, proposals on short and long-term measures to be taken within the framework of the co-operation between Africa and EEC;
FURTHER CALLS UPON the Permanent Steering Committee to submit a report thereon to the Fifty-first Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers.