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UNITED NATIONS
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
Distr.: GENERAL E/ECA/CM.9/12 8 February 1983 Original: ENGLISH
ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA SILVER JUBILEE ANNIVERSARY MEETINGS Fourth meeting of the Technical
Preparatory Committee of the
Whole
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 14-22 April 1983 Item 7 of the provisional agenda
ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA SILVER JUBILEE A^'IVERSARY.MEETINGS Eighteenth session of the Commission
and ninth meeting of the Conference of Ministers of the Commission
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 27 April - 3 May 1983 Item 12 B. (i) of the provisional agenda
AFRICA AND THE ONGOING INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC NEGOTIATIONS
Executive Summary*
The present constitutes the fflain document
■*
** &CA/CH.9/IZ
i: introduction.
1. The-aim-of thls-suDmary-is, on the one hand, fco-take-stock of the major on going or future international economic negotiations whose outcome--night have a strong mpact on the development and economic growth of Africa and~c* the other hand, to make some comments and suggestions as to how to approach the negotiations
The suggestions and comments concern mainly the sixth session of the UnS^t Conference on Trade and Development (WCXftO) , multilateral trade negoUat^ns
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) , the negotiation of a ^
:ii::^\^:^:TirLome :i and —— ' Lome :i and
XI. UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT
2. The sixth session of UNCTAD is to be held in Belgrade from 2 to 30 June 1983
in accordance with well; established practice, it will be preceded not onl^by a
^ZT"%Tl? f T Gr°UP °f ?? tO bG hGld in Buen°S Mres *«» 28 Marc^ to
10 April 1983, but also by meetings of experts and ministers of each of the reaionalgroups.of the Group of 77. . The African ministers of trade will meet in Li^vll^
Gabon from, 24 to 26 February and the meeting will be preceded by a preparaSry '
meeting of experts also at Libreville from 18 to 23 February.
L v*Zt is,quite obvious that the current UNCTAD session will be held against the
backdrop of a particularly dismal international economic situation characterized by the recession which has hit most industrialized countries very hard with subsequent adverse^consequences for developing countries especially with respect to their commodity prices and their ability to Service their external debt.foreS°in9' the question arises as to how far the Conference will
key questions on it d h h
L Ki ! ?f ? ? S9 q ss as to how far the Conference
be able to solve the key questions on its agenda such as the resurgence of pro
tectionism in the developed countries, international financial and monetary questions and the problem of commodities, all of which were questions on which.the fifth session of the Conference held at Manila fro* 7 May to 3 June 1979 was not able to make any
SjflO?reSS; T Su°Uld bS rSCalled *"*' at ^^ """i* i« Addis Ababa TiJTot\llTf T V*1"??.?* reSUltS °f ^ fifth session' African ministers of
did not hesitate to call it a distinct' failure.
5 At their meetings in Libreville, African experts and ministers will have to
define as concisely as possible the African position on the various agenda items of the conference. To assist them in their task, the OAU and ECA secretariats intend to
Pr^"'u n-u?*r-of docu^nts to take stock of the implementation of the resolutions adopted by the previous UNCTAD session focusing on questions of particular importance to Africa such as the Integrated Programme for Commodities including the Common Fund, the problems of least developed countries, etc. The documents will also make some suggestions on what positions Africa might take in Buenos Aires and Belgrade on the
various agenda items of the sixth session of UNCTAD.
1/ With respect to the negotiations on a code of conduct on transnational corporations, an addendum to this document will be published as soon as the meeting of ^frican inter-governmental experts scheduled to be held in January 1984 at Addis Ababa to take stock of the negotiations is held.
E/ECA/CM.9/12 Page 2
lhe--EOLa>nf«ence^^ countries to
B2
meeting.III. MULTILATERAL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITHIN GATT
at present by the General Agreement
8. "*e Geneva Conference «-. characterized by .confrontation
countries of the European EconomicCc^unitjr which flatly opposed any
ftt^ rys
the world including the EEC's 9. For the developing countries,
subsidies.
to increase their export earnings were left empty handed 10. ^e EC Conference of Ministers night wi
results, request African countries to ensur^
the framework of the permanent machineries of
^t^^sl results into
to ta^ ^gotiation o£the sixth session of ™
E/ECA/CM.9/12
Page 3
IV. NEGOTIATION OF AN ACP-EEC SUCCESSOR AGREEMENT
TO LOME
especially the Lone II Convention? partWarfv frof?H °5 ^ PrSViOUS "mentions, on many other aspects such as STABEX industrial n™ J DF COnponent' Progress
of certain manufactured or semi-processtfnrod,^/ °r ^ genuine «*"»«»
markets leaves much to be desired In a „ 1 ^lni"g access to «>« EEC
contract which was mooted d«ring *e ne" tSion,' ? "" °f **" *^9P»nt
way away. g me negotiations on Lome n stm seems a long
instruct^cf^SrSrS1S^t^ f"*1— °f Mini—= -*t wish to
effective assistance to the AfricafcolL Pr°9ramrae of work aimed at giving to negotiate successfully ^ ^ EEC^ ^ *** ^^^ °f tte «CP group EEC-ACP convention whichf as fafL possSl! f311"68 ln °rder to c°nc1^ a new
African nembers of the ACP arouD In ^^ ' """ "P ^ the aspirations of the
that the EC* secretariat itS^^^^l^- " wou" *> understood
axso with African inter-govemmentel o SLtil° " "i"1 th6 flCP se«etariat but in that area including f£ instance; tte^ 1 " Ot^r relEVant °^niZations keen xnterest in the negotiations to take ttrt Tt^ "^ haS showed ^^y M force is implemented, prepare toe d™n, ^ " thS conventi°« currently
Lome II convention and provide ^opSa^techn^ "'9Otf»tln9 tte —sor to^e
throughout the negotiations. appr°prlate technical assistance to African countries
mandate. r "" ^ Iiexc meeting on the implementation of St^
V. CLOSING REMARKS
14.
not Mt to be e^austive ft goes S^T6 "^^^ rSVleWed are
or modified as needed. m th^t connection toe^n," ^ C°Ul<3 be suPP^-nte
to stress the need for member States to L;,^,^?"" °f Ministe« might wish
negotiations are closely co-ordinated ?n ^ ^ PreParations for the
negotiations - which meLs l^n?T^r^s ^1 ^ bStWeen aU «»
compiti i IS T£ i
are closely co-ordinated ?n ^ P for the
negotiations - which meLs l^n?T^r^s ^1 ^ bStWeen aU «»
composition of the delegations partxcIpaSna in th T,°£ conti"u"y in the harmonize their positions on thfvariou^ item^^Jf^ negotiations - and to
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