Support to the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)

PMCG, as part of an international consortium led by GOPA, recently began the implementation of a new EU-funded project entitled “Support to the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).”

The project has an expected duration of two years and aims to improve the awareness of specific trade and investment opportunities, of EPA provisions for market access, and of the requirements for market access for EU companies in the CARIFORUM states. Furthermore, it also aims to strengthen advocacy in conducting business in the EU and will work towards increasing transparency on a number of provisions, thereby contributing to improving preference utilization rates by EU exporters.

Throughout the project’s implementation, a team of experts will provide technical expertise on priority sectors for EU trade and investment, including an outline of the EPA’s relevance for these sectors.

In order to achieve its objectives, the project team will create a comprehensive and horizontal cross-sectoral digital paper on the business and investment climate, focusing on the ease of doing business.

Moreover, communication activities, including webinars and other online knowledge-sharing events and activities, will promote the visibility of trade opportunities and contribute to an increased awareness of the EPA. Social media campaigns will also be launched to communicate the results of the events and other EPA-related activities.

“The EPA is a development trade agreement, that provides duty-free, quota-free access for all exports from the CARIFORUM region to the EU from the first day of the application of the EPA. Although the Caribbean has strong and longstanding political and economic ties with the European Union, CARIFORUM states and EU businesses have not yet fully taken advantage of the opportunities that the EPA presents,” said Alicia Lynch, Consultant at PMCG. She added: “This project will provide the necessary technical assistance to the region to enable exporters and businesspeople to more fully “unlock” additional business and investment opportunities available under the CARIFORUM-EU EPA.”