A European Commission report published on October 18, 2024, highlights the good progress made in recent negotiations to deepen trade and investment relations with five Eastern and Southern African partners.
The report – published in line with the Commission’s transparency commitments – summarises the progress made during the latest negotiations to deepen the existing Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with five Eastern and Southern African partners (ESA5): Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe.
The 14th negotiation round at technical level took place in Brussels from 30 September to 3 October, followed by a back-to-back meeting at senior-official level on 4 October 2024.
Discussions led to provisional conclusions on a 'Transparency in Public Procurement' chapter, as well as ‘State-Owned Enterprises’ and ‘Competition Policy’ sections for a 'Competition' chapter. Good progress was made on all other chapters, in particular those relating to intellectual property rights, economic and development cooperation, and services and investment.
The next (15th) round of EU-ESA5 negotiations is expected to be held in the first quarter of 2025 in the ESA region.
Source: European Commission