After Lomé IV: A Strategy for ACP-EU Relations in the 21st Century / Economic Paper No. 37 (Economic Paper Series)

This paper focuses on the options on trade issues faced by the countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group as they negotiate with the European Union (EU) on a framework for future ACP-EU co-operation. It builds on the extensive analysis of ACP-EU trade and aid co-operation in Commonwealth Secretariat Economic Paper 32. The main topics are: pressures on the Lome arrangements; economic effects of free trade areas proposed by the EU; pointers from the EU’s trade agreement with Morocco and its negotiation with South Africa; the feasibility of enhancements of the EU’s Generalized System of Preferences; a way ahead for the ACP countries in negotiation.