AGRICULTURE MINISTER Roger Clarke has said Jamaica will challenge the European Union (EU) in the courts if it executes its proposed reduction in the guaranteed amounts paid for sugar from African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, beginning in July 2005.
"We have an agreement which is legally binding," Mr. Clarke said. "We are prepared to go to the highest court if we can't get any recompense."
PRESS BRIEFING
The minister was speaking at a press briefing at his Hope Gardens offices on Wednesday, almost one week after his return from the second phase of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Ministerial Sugar Lobby. The meetings, which were also attended by Ambassador Derrick Heaven, the executive chairman of the Sugar Industry Authority (SIA), began in London, England, on October 11 and ended in Portugal three days later.
CONFIDENT
"I am confident that the 2005 date will not be," Minister Clarke said.
And Ambassador Heaven said a reduction in the price of ACP sugar on the European market would negatively impact on Caribbean countries. He also said currently, feasibility studies were being carried out to ascertain how to maximise on the uses of the sugar to further capitalise on earnings from the product.
According to Ambassador Heaven, these studies begun even before the EU announced its intention to cut sugar prices to ACP countries by 20 per cent in 2005 and a further 16 per cent in 2008.
A release from the Agriculture Ministry said at last week's sugar lobby meetings Mr. Clarke noted the region's commitment to supporting the position adopted by the ACP group to retain the benefits of the existing sugar protocol for as long as possible, against the background of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) July 2004 Framework Accord, which gives the EU adequate policy flexibility to grant the necessary support to ACP producers.
Mr. Clarke maintains that in the event of any price reduction, ACP sugar producers should be granted compensatory treatment, similar to that proposed for EU producers.
Among the other issues
lobbied were:
That the negotiation of price levels after 2008, meet the criterion of special and differential treatment for sensitive products, under the principles already accepted in international trade negotiations; and
The securing of a commitment for the establishment of a fund by the European Union to facilitate current efforts to enhance the competitiveness of the region's sugar industries.
