/ Installation of members of the steering Committee of SPEPA (PASAPE)
Members of the steering committee of the Support Programme to the Economic Partnership Agreements (SPESA) were installed this day 8 February 2010 by Mr. Yaouba Abdoulaye, Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development.
This committee should make sure that the 5.5 million Euros (that is CFA 3.600 million F) granted to Cameroon by the European party for support to the implementation of the EPA are correctly used. This is the recommendation made by Minister Yaouba Abdoulaye to the members of this committee who themselves are also members of the National Committee for the Follow up and Coordination of the Negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union.
The Minister Delegate recalled that the convention on the SPESA which was signed on 11 October 2007 between the EU and Cameroon has as objective to reinforce competitiveness of jçAfrican sub-region.
This is possible through the building of the capacities of the negotiators of the EPA; raising the level of enterprises, the amelioration of the business climate and the application of quality norms.
The Minister Delegate said that the Prime Minister created the steering committee of SPESA on 22 May 2009 while its members were designated by the Minister in charge of the Economy on 25 January 2010. He added that the members of this steering committee also have as mission the supervision and orientation of the activities of the SPESA. After being installed, the members of the committee immediately met in session during which they learnt how the SPESA should function and what each of them should do to ensure its effectiveness.
The EPA aims at creating a free trade zone between the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries on a basis of reciprocity as demanded by the World Trade Organisation contrary to the preferential regimes still in force presently.
At present, only, Cameroon has signed an interim agreement since January 2009. This agreement is qualified "stepping stone agreement towards an agreement between the EU and the Central African sub-region"
For further information on the SPESA, go to the menu Documentation, file:
Programme d'appui et soutien à l'APE (PASAPE)
By Benjamin BIOULE; email: benjamin.bioule@comiteapecameroun.net
