7 May 2021: Joint Communique from first meeting of the ESA-UK EPA Committee
Updated 25 July 2023
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The first meeting of the EPA committee between the parties to the ESA-UK EPA (Mauritius, Seychelles, Zimbabwe and the UK) was held by video conference on 7 May 2021. Madagascar joined the meeting as an observer.
The UK and ESA states each provided a general update to the EPA committee. The UK shared details of where to find relevant UK legislation, documentation and guidance for the agreement online, and looked forward to Madagascar and Comoros signing the EPA in the near future. Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe each confirmed that activity was taking place as required for implementation of the agreement, and that there had been no issues identified with trade flows as a result of EPA implementation to date.
The EPA committee’s rules of procedure were formally adopted at the meeting.
Parties considered next steps of the other committees provided for in the agreement and agreed that relevant officials would work to develop rules of procedure for the Customs Co-operation committee, and that the Joint Development committee would meet at the same time as future EPA committees to discuss development co-operation.
The UK provided an update to the group of the outcome of the multilateral safeguards review as per Article 19(2) of the EPA. The committee agreed to exclude imports from ESA states from the multilateral safeguards for a period of 3 years.
Parties discussed development co-operation and the UK presented an overview of the range of support provided as well as more specifically the details of the UK Trade Partnership Programme within the ESA region. ESA states welcomed the support and encouraged the UK to continue work on demand-driven programming including the possibility of a dedicated fund under the Agreement. ESA states also highlighted the extreme difficulties caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and their desire for support to accelerate vaccine supply and to secure PPE (personal protective equipment).
Parties noted that the automatic tuna derogation will be shared equally between Mauritius and Seychelles, pending additional ESA countries signing and bringing the UK-ESA EPA into effect.
A range of proposals to amend the rules of origin were discussed and the committee agreed that officials would follow up on the technical details after the meeting.
Parties discussed the UK’s position on the autonomous tariff rate quota (ATQ) on sugar. The UK confirmed that no specific reviews of the ATQ are currently planned but that ESA states’ views would be welcomed through the current feedback gathering exercise on the UK Global Tariff (UKGT).
The committee discussed the timetable for future negotiations detailed in Article 52. They agreed that negotiations would not be expected to start imminently, and that possible domestic procedural requirements would likely mean that negotiations would not be able to start before next year at the earliest. In the meantime, ESA states offered to share initial proposals for the UK to consider on what scope future negotiations might cover.
The UK and Mauritius co-chairs thanked everyone for such positive engagement and welcomed the very constructive discussions at this first EPA committee meeting.