Members of the steering committee of the Support Programme to the Economic Partnership Agreements (SPESA) were installed today at the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT).

European Union and Latin American countries signed, on Tuesday 15 December 2009, an agreement aimed at reducing European customs duties on banana from Latin America. This was a serious blow to the African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) countries who are exonerated from customs duties.

The negotiation on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) is today in the major part blocked. The ACP countries feel abandoned by the European Union which they blame for wanting to oblige them to sign agreements unfavourable to their development.

YAOUNDE, 11 January (Xinhua) – Eleven days after the deadline of 1st January fixed by the time table, no indicator has been given on the coming into force of the interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) concluded on 17 December 2007 between Cameroon and the European Union (EU), the Cameroonian government having requested a postponement but a European source in Yaoundé makes mention of risks of this postponement.