Tue. Dec 10th, 2024

    Brussels, 18 October 2024

    A European Commission report published today highlights the good progress made in recent negotiations to deepen trade and investment relations with five Eastern and Southern African partners.

    The report – published in line with the Commission’s transparency commitments – summarises the progress made during the latest negotiations to deepen the existing Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with five Eastern and Southern African partners (ESA5): Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe.

    The 14th negotiation round at technical level took place in Brussels from 30 September to 3 October, followed by a back-to-back meeting at senior-official level on 4 October 2024.

    Discussions led to provisional conclusions on a ‘Transparency in Public Procurement’ chapter, as well as ‘State-Owned Enterprises’ and ‘Competition Policy’ sections for a ‘Competition’ chapter. Good progress was made on all other chapters, in particular those relating to intellectual property rights, economic and development cooperation, and services and investment.

    The next (15th) round of EU-ESA5 negotiations is expected to be held in the first quarter of 2025 in the ESA region.

    More information

    Source – EU Commission – DG Trade

     

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