Video: Ghana's EPAs dilemma: to sign or not to sign? - Press TV Africa Today

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The European Union has been trying hard to have African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries sign Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) which will create free trade areas between the two regions.

In 2007, Ghana initialed an interim EPA. Cote d'Ivoire fully signed onto it with Nigeria refusing to sign. Initially these EPAs were supposed to take effect on January 1, 2008.

Many ACP countries are reluctant to sign them because there is very little direct benefit for their people while the EU has set stringent time-frames to beat competition from the US, China, Brazil, Turkey and India.

Under these EPAs, ACP countries will have to progressively remove all duty and other import tariffs on goods manufactured in EU countries. This means they will lose a vital source of their developmental revenue while gaining "access to EU markets".

Ghana has been operating under a temporary EPA for the last seven years.

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