EPA as a Tool for the Development of Sub‑Saharan Countries

Does it Work ?

Abstract

The article discusses Economic Partnership Agreements, which have become a tool for transforming trade relations between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), including the countries of Sub‑Saharan Africa. The agreements combine trade and development into a single whole, and as envisaged by the European Union, they are to become an instrument for achieving the development goals of the ACP states. Their common characteristic is free access to markets under the principle of reciprocity. Given the development asymmetry between the European Union and the ACP states, there arises a question of whether EPAs will be an instrument serving their development, and this article is an attempt at providing an answer to this question.