Meat and equity: Zambia questions EU policies over imports and trade

Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa questions EU policies over imports and trade complaining that Zambia is losing as much as $150 million annually on potential meat exports alone .... close to what the EU gives Zambia in grants every year.He called for delegates to find ways on how Africa and European nations can build a new relationship based on equality.

Source: The Times of Zambia (Lusaka)... Zambia: President Call for EU Countries to Open Up Their Markets to Africa

THE call by President Mwanawasa for European Union (EU) countries to open up their markets to African agricultural produce is a serious matter, which should be accorded the attention that it deserves. For a long time, African countries have been crying about the restricted access to the lucrative EU and other markets.
That Zambia is losing as much as $150 million annually on potential meat exports alone as a result of these trade restrictions is indicative of the magnitude of the opportunities that the EU has been denying African countries. This figure, according to Dr Mwanawasa is close to what the EU gives Zambia in grants every year.
This clearly demonstrates that Zambia and other African countries are capable of eventually standing on their own if only EU members and other developed countries could be supportive by offering them chance to trade equitably, instead of keeping them hooked on foreign aid.
In fact, Africa has always stated that it does not wish to live on hand-outs because it is capable of standing on its own with genuine support from the developed. Such support could entail the removal of some of the rigid packaging specifications and phyto-sanitary standards demanded by the EU.
The other way that the EU could help Zambia would be through the deliberate boosting of Africa's capacity to meet some of these measures demanded by the European nations, and allowing the country to trade itself out of aid dependency.
Europe can enable Africa to trade more equitably by removing agricultural subsidies, which make African produce uncompetitive on the EU market.
Of course, the EU cannot be expected to relax the trade restriction and open up its markets rapidly and at once, but there is room for the EU member states to remove some of the barriers and meet the African nations half way.
The EU-Africa Summit, which closed yesterday in Lisbon, was called to find ways on how Africa and European nations can build a new relationship based on equality. The suggestion made by Dr Mwanawasa is one way of achieving that.
The World has followed the deliberations of the summit in Portugal with keen interest and is waiting to see the results of the meeting.
Now is the time to implement the resolutions of the EU-Africa summit. Otherwise the meeting will be branded just another talking shop.