Danish Trade Policy, Regional Economic Integration in Africa and the EU Economic Partnership Agreement Process

Background
While the continent’s political leaders, intellectuals and business communities have long recognized the advantages of regional economic integration in Africa, progress toward this goal has been painfully slow. Trade agreements abound, but often suffer from weak institutional anchorage, limited implementation and failure to confront issues of ‘deep integration’.

Traditionally Europe has been Africa’s main trading partner, although the results of its unilateral trading preferences in favor of Africa were also disappointing. Partly in an effort to remedy this, the EU since 2001 has been pursuing an agenda linking support to deeper regional integration in Africa to provision of continued preferential market access for African countries (the Economic Partnership Agreement or EPA process). More controversially, within the EPA process the EU has also pursued reciprocal market opening by African countries to EU exports of goods and services.

Against this background, Denmark has pursued policies to strengthen economic integration in Africa by support to the East African Community (EAC) and to EAC-focused government agencies and civil society organizations in the member states. At the same time, reflecting its dialogue with its East African regional integration partners, Denmark has supported the case for EPAs to be flexible and development-friendly within EU forums.

This seminar brings consideration of these issues together, against the twin background of the preparation of a new Danish trade policy strategy and movement of the EPA negotiations between the EU and the EAC into a new and possibly conclusive stage. It sets out to help identify the main challenges in the African regional integration process that Danish policy might focus upon as well as, in the context of the current phase of the EPA process, concrete stances and initiatives from the EU side that would best reflect Danish priorities. 

Speakers

• Christian Friis Bach, Danish Minister for Development Cooperation
  
• Pia Olsen Dyhr, Danish Minister for Trade and Investment
  
• Richard Sezibera, Ambassador, Secretary General, East African Community
  
• Betty Maina, Chief Executive, Kenya Association of Manufacturers
  
• Wusheng Yu, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
  
• Francis Matambalya , Senior Researcher, Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala
  
• Aileen Kwa , Coordinator for Trade for Development Programme, South Centre
  
• Ole Thonke , Deputy Head of Mission, Danish Embassy, Nairobi
  
• Nathan Irumba , Ambassador, Chief Executive Director, Seatini
  
• Nanna Hvidt , Director, DIIS
  
• Peter Gibbon , Senior Researcher, DIIS
  

 

Programme
More details about the seminar are available onour website. 

Practical Information
The seminar will be held in English.
Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use our online registration form  no later than Wednesday, 12 December 2012 at 12.00 noon. Please await confirmation by e-mail from DIIS for participation.