by RICKEY SINGH

THERE IS TO be a further delay in the proposed signing in Barbados of the Caribbean region's Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU), originally expected before June 30.

Conflicting dates offered by the European Commission (executive arm of the EU) and the Barbados Government keep pushing back the signing ceremony to either mid or late July.

To the EU's recent proposal for a July 14/15 date, Barbados counter-proposed either July 21 or July 23. A compromise date for the historic signing ceremony is now likely to be discussed at this week's two-day 5th Conference of the EU and Latin America and Caribbean Summit scheduled to begin on Friday in Peruvian capital Lima, THE DAILY NATION learnt yesterday.

Delays in necessary approvals of the complex EPA text, translated into the relevant national language of 25 EU member states, as well as the 15 CARIFORUM countries (CARICOM plus Dominican Republic) have contributed to the putting back of the signing ceremony that was previously proposed to take place before June 30, the original date when the provisional application of the trade and economic development accord was supposed to take effect.

While the EPA, initialed in Barbados on December 16 last year, remains a source of controversy among some governments, Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) – which led the CARIFORUM negotiations with EC officials – preliminary arrangements have begun for some 40 Heads of Government or their delegated representatives (Foreign or Minister for International Trade) to participate in the series of bilateral arrangements for the EPA signining ceremony, possibly at the Barbados Hilton.

CARICOM's Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) discussed at its 26th Special Meeting on Saturday (May 10) a proposed
"road map" of EPA implementation arrangements that need to be place before application of the accord kicks in.

Even at this late stage, however, calls continue from well-known regional economists like Dr Havelock Brewster and Dr Norman Girvan for governments to make use of the shifting dates for the signing ceremony for a more critical assessment of the EPA, with a view for adjustments to perceived weaknesses in the existing text.

Some CARICOM states are reported to be still poring over the voluminous text, aware that once signed it becomes a binding accord between them and the EU.

Any adjustment to the text initialled last December between officials of the CRNM and EC will require prior approval of all EU countries, ahead of formal notification to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) of this, the first comprehensive EPA to have been negotiated from an originally envisaged six such regional accords.