by RICKEY SINGH

THE TW0-DAY Montego Bay meeting between the Caribbean and European Union to conclude arrangements for the signing of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) has failed to reach a satisfactory deal after tense negotiations.

Slated as a "make or break" initiative, news of the failure to resolve outstanding trade, investment and aid issues at the October 4-5 meeting of CARIFORUM (CARICOM plus Dominican Republic) and EU representatives, coincided with Friday's stalled negotiations between EU and West African states on an EPA for that region as well.

In the Caribbean, a fresh round of negotiations takes place this week with the hope of reaching a consensus in order to move forward with arrangements for signing an EPA with the EU by year-end.

The EU has been locked in various phases of negotiations with the 79-member African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group countries for six separate regional EPAs to succeed the existing Cotonou Convention on trade and development aid.

Centrepiece provisions, attractive for the ACP, offered preferential preferences that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has determined to be in conflict with rules governing international free trade.

In contrast, reciprocity in trade and investment measures is a key factor in the new EPAs being negotiated and over which there are strong reservations within the ACP.

The initiative for six separate regional EPAs to replace the expiring Cotonou Convention was preceded by three other broad trade and aid accords dating back to the original Lomé Convention partnership signed back in 1975.

The ACP countries, including the Caribbean, have accused the EU of fequently acting unilaterally and conducting EPA negotiations in "bad faith" to their disadvantage, an accusation strongly rejected by the EU Commissioners for trade and economic development.

While the EU waves its proposed two billion Euros in aid over a 20-year period awaiting the Caribbean under the EPA being negotiated for this region, government and private sector leaders have pointed to claimed "scant respect" shown for the region by EU negotiators on vital economic sectors such as sugar and tourism.

Currently, the Pacific states have been favoured for a so-called "interim agreement" pending completion of negotiations for an EPA, after it was conceded that an end-of-year deal was no longer feasible.

West African states and the Caribbean on the other hand are questioning why similar interim arrangements could not be extended to them rather than having to be rushed into compliance for proposed EPAs by year-end.

Please see also Page 14A.