[Abstract] On February 28, 1975, 46 developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific and nine countries of the European Economic ****some signed the Lomé Agreement on the European Economic ****some ------ Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (countries) in Lomé, Togo. Over the past 30 years, the Lomé Agreement has been revised and renewed, but its basic objective of "aid for trade" has remained unchanged. This has had a significant and far-reaching impact on the world political and economic order, North-South relations and international trade rules. After the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the most representative trade disputes handled by the European Union and the United States of America, when the "banana war". The trigger for this trade war was the Lomé Agreement. Looking at the development of the Lomé Agreement
, it can be seen that the vitality of the North-South mutually beneficial cooperative relationship.
On February 28, 1975, 46 developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific and nine countries of the European Economic ****some signed the Lomé Agreement in Lomé, the capital of Togo, which is known as the European Economic ****some ------ Lomé Agreement for the African, Caribbean and Pacific Regions (States). Over the past 30 years, the Lomé Agreement has been revised and renewed, but its basic objective of "aid for trade" has remained unchanged. This has had a significant and far-reaching impact on the world political and economic order, North-South relations and international trade rules.
Detonation of the banana war
After the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the most representative trade disputes handled by the European Union and the United States of America, when the "banana war". The trigger for this trade war was the Lomé Agreement.
Today, 40% of the world's banana exports come from regions such as Latin America and the Caribbean. In Latin America, the production of bananas is mainly carried out by large estates employing workers, which are mostly run by large local landowners in partnership with US multinationals (Chiquita, etc.). Production is high and costs are low because of the large scale of production, sufficient capital, advanced equipment and the use of large quantities of pesticides and fertilizers. In the Caribbean, on the other hand, banana production is mainly carried out by independent smallholders, with little capital, small scale, high costs, but only small amounts of fertilizers and pesticides. Traditionally, small farmers sell their bananas to Geest, a multinational company from the UK, for shipment to Europe.
The EU has the world's largest consumer market for bananas, importing about 3.9 million tons of bananas a year, or nearly $6 billion. Under the Lomé Agreement, the EU gives priority in import distribution to the ACP countries with which it maintains special economic and trade relations. This import distribution system greatly affects Central and South American banana exports to the EU. Although the preferential banana imports under the Lomé Agreement accounted for only 2% of the European market, banana export companies in the United States exerted pressure on the United States government in order to expand the market. 1993, the United States formally made representations to the United Kingdom, which refused to import bananas from Central and South America on the grounds that the EU had entered into the Lomé Agreement with the ACP. 1995 saw the establishment of the WTO, where the United States worked with the Latin American countries to establish an agreement with the United Kingdom on the Lomé Agreement. The United States and Latin American countries through the WTO accused the United Kingdom in the "Lomé Agreement" set out banana trade preferences, is really discriminatory against the export of agricultural products of other countries, in violation of the principle of free trade.
After many battles, in 1997, the WTO ruled in favor of the United States. After modifying the relevant provisions of the European Union from 1999 to implement the new banana import regulations (that is, the so-called "fair trade" operation), but the United States that the EU's new measures, "a change of soup but not a change of medicine", once again to the WTO to file a lawsuit. The WTO again ruled against the EU. Under the authorization of the WTO, the U.S. implemented 100% punitive tariffs on specific EU products. In order to avoid the escalation of the trade war, Europe and the United States in the WTO on the basis of the relevant laws for many rounds of consultations, after balancing the interests of all parties, in July 2001, Europe and the United States trade representatives reached an agreement on the banana war for a period of up to nine years on this to put an end to. The European Union canceled its discriminatory banana policy against Central American countries, while the United States also abandoned punitive tariffs on EU goods.
The goal is permanent
At the beginning of the establishment of the European **** body, that is, with a number of countries in Africa to establish "associated countries" relations. In February 1975, the first Lomé Agreement was signed in Lomé, which entered into force in April 1976 for a period of five years, replacing the two agreements that had already expired. The Lomé Agreement, while agreeing on preferential trade arrangements for the ACP, also provided for financial assistance from the E.U. to the ACP in the amount of 3.36 billion European currency units (approximately $4.2 billion) over a five-year period; it was renewed with three amendments in October 1979, December 1984, and December 1989.
2000
The first Lomé Agreement was signed in Lomé in February 1975 and entered into force in April 1976, replacing the two expired agreements.
In June 2000, the EU and ACP signed the fifth Lomé Agreement ------ the Cotonou Agreement in Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin. The agreement is valid for 20 years, the main provisions: democracy, human rights, the rule of law and good governance as the basic principles for the implementation of the agreement, the EU has the right to suspend the provision of assistance to countries in violation of the above principles; the EU to gradually abolish the provision of one-way trade preferences for the ACP, and replace it with a transition to free trade, the two sides will eventually set up a free trade zone to complete the convergence with the WTO rules; the EU will set up a total of 13.5 billion euros of the 9th European Development Fund, to the ACP. The EU will set up the 9th European Development Fund with a total amount of 13.5 billion euros to provide assistance to the ACP and allocate 1 billion euros from the previous development fund balances to subsidize the heavily indebted poor countries. The Cotonou Agreement entered into force in 2002, but with the exception of the Financial Protocol, most of its provisions entered into force immediately after the formal signing of the Agreement on May 31, 2000, and the Lomé Agreement, which had governed the EU's trade and aid relationship with the ACP for 25 years, was terminated. At the end of 2002, 92 countries*** were participating in the Lomé Agreement, of which 15 were from the EU and 77 from the ACP (including 48 from Africa, 15 from the Caribbean and 14 from the Pacific).
The Lomé Convention is the earliest, longest-running, most ambitious and most comprehensive economic and trade agreement signed between developed and developing countries. Although the Lomé Convention has undergone many revisions, its basic objective of "aid for ------ trade" has remained unchanged.
The road ahead is still long
A look at the history of the Lomé Convention shows the vitality of the North-South mutually beneficial partnership. First, since the implementation of the Agreement, the total number of countries in the two categories of North and South participating in the contracting parties has been increasing gradually from 55 to 92 countries; second, the content and scope of North-South cooperation has been expanding continuously, and the European *** body (post-EU) has given special preferential tariffs to the ACP without requiring the ACP to give the same treatment, with the aim of promoting and accelerating the economic, cultural and social development of the ACP to ensure that the contracting parties Equality and Mutual Benefit. Thus, the Lomé Agreement has created a new model for North-South economic cooperation, which is of great positive significance for the development of North-South relations; thirdly, despite the fact that each time the negotiations on the renewal of the Agreement have been difficult, a new agreement has always been reached that is more favorable to the developing countries and that allows North-South cooperation to move forward; and fourthly, each time a new agreement has been reached, it has been more favorable to the two sides in general in pursuing more comprehensive cooperation in various fields. Fourthly, each time a new agreement is reached, it is generally more conducive to the pursuit of more comprehensive cooperation between the two sides in various fields and to the establishment of more stable and rational international economic relations.
However, the Lomé Agreement-style "North-South cooperation" is still far from being able to fundamentally change the unequal and unfair economic relations between the North and the South: first, due to the large differences in the level of economic development, there is still a rather serious inequality of exchange in the trade exchanges between the two types of countries; second, the EU's preferential treatment on tariffs, which has been a major obstacle to the establishment of a stable international economic relationship; and fourth, the new agreements are generally more conducive to the pursuit of more comprehensive cooperation in various fields. gives preferential treatment on tariffs, which is often accompanied by heavy restrictions in the form of various non-tariff barriers. In addition, since WTO rules do not allow discriminatory treatment among developing countries, new trade arrangements can only take the form of regional economic cooperation allowed by WTO rules. Moreover, with the strengthening of global trade liberalization, the practical significance of existing trade preferences will continue to decline; third, the subsidies used to stabilize ACP export revenues and the financial assistance given to these countries still fall far short of the real needs of many poor and weak ACP countries to develop their economies; fourth, the trade diversion effect of the European Union's eastward enlargement has had an increasingly negative impact on the ACP. From the mid-1970s to the end of the 1980s, the Lomé Agreement ensured that the ACP countries maintained a share of nearly 7 percent of the EU import market. Into the 1990s, however, although the number of ACP countries participating in the Agreement had increased from the initial 46 to 71, their market share in the EU fell from 6.7 percent in 1985 to 4.2 percent in 1999; and fifth, the EU had been the largest provider of aid money from developed to developing countries. However, with the end of the Cold War and the launch of the EU's eastward expansion, the focus of the EU's foreign aid shifted to Eastern European countries and Russia. Before that, the ACP countries had been the main beneficiaries of foreign aid from the Eu**** body; from 1970 to 1974, the ACP held 13 seats among the 15 countries receiving the most aid, while only two seats remained in 1997; sixthly, although the Lomé Agreement has achieved initial important results in realizing North-South cooperation and changing the unequal relations between the North and the South, it is still far from the general goal of establishing a new international economic order. Sixthly, although the Lomé Agreement has achieved important initial results in realizing North-South cooperation and changing North-South relations, it is still a long way from the overall goal of establishing a new international economic order.
Lome Convention
Lome Convention
Establishment Date On February 28, 1975, 46 developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP countries) and nine countries of the European Economic ****similarity (EEC) met in Lome, Togo, and signed a trade and economic agreement, known as the EEC***similarity (ACP-Africa, Caribbean and Pacific). Commonwealth of Europe-African, Caribbean and Pacific (countries) Lomé Agreement, referred to as the "Lomé Agreement" or "Lomé Convention".
Membership As of the end of 1999, there were 86 countries*** participating in the fourth Lomé Convention. Of these, 15 are in the European Union (EU): Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom, Austria, Finland and Sweden. 71 countries in the ACP region, of which 48 in the Africa region: Ethiopia, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Togo, Eritrea, Cape Verde, Gambia, Congo-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Gabon, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Comoros, C?te d'Ivoire, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Rwanda, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Seychelles, S?o Tomé and Príncipe, Swaziland, Sudan, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Chad, Central Africa; and 15 countries in the Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Commonwealth of St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Haiti; and 8 countries in the Pacific: Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Samoa.
Organization (1) Council of Ministers (Council of Ministers), by each signatory of the agreement to send a minister. There are two co-chairs, one from each side. The Council holds a regular meeting once a year. The Secretariat of the Council is located in Brussels, Belgium. (2) Committee of Ambassadors (Committee of Ambassadors), composed of ambassadors sent by the signatory countries, and chaired by the two sides, respectively, take turns to send members. The Committee meets at least once every six months. (3) Joint Assembly, with one representative from each of the ACP countries and an equal number of representatives from the European Parliament. The Co-Chairmen are appointed by one person from each side. The Joint Assembly meets twice a year. (4) The Industrial Development Center (IDC), based in Brussels, is responsible for promoting investment in the ACP countries. (5) The Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation is located in Wageningen, the Netherlands, and is responsible for providing the ACP countries with information, research and training in agriculture and related fields.
Major activities At the beginning of the establishment of the European Union, "associated countries" were established with a number of African countries. The Yaoundé and Arusha Agreements were signed with 18 African countries, including Cameroon, and three East African countries (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), to establish a framework for cooperation in trade and assistance. The first "Lomé Agreement" was signed in Lomé on February 28, 1975, and entered into force on April 1, 1976, for a period of five years, replacing the two agreements that had expired. The new Agreement provided for financial assistance of 3.3 to 6 billion European currency units (approximately US$ 4.2 billion) from the E.U.**** to the ACP States over a period of five years. The second "Lomé Agreement" was renewed in Togo on October 31, 1979, and entered into force in April 1980 for a period of five years. This time, the assistance provided by the EEC was increased to 5.6-07 billion European currency units (approximately US$7.4-5.7 billion), and the number of ACP countries participating in the agreement was increased to 58. The second agreement introduced a mechanism for the stabilization of mineral export revenues (Sysmin), which guarantees the ACP countries a stable income from the export of minerals to the E.U. The third "Lomé Agreement" was signed by the ACP countries. The third "Lomé Agreement" was renewed in Togo on December 8, 1984, and entered into force on May 1, 1986, for a period of five years (March 1, 1985-February 28, 1990). The Agreement establishes a relationship of equal partnership and interdependence between the two parties. According to the Agreement, the Eu***s provide financial assistance to the ACP countries in the amount of 8.5 billion European currency units (approximately 9.35 billion dollars) over a period of five years. The number of ACP countries participating in the signing of the Agreement increased to 65.
The fourth Lomé Agreement was renewed in Togo on December 15, 1989, for a period of 10 years, and on March 1, 1990, its trade provisions entered into force. In view of the slow pace of ratification of the Agreement by the Contracting Parties, the Council of Ministers of the European Communities decided to postpone the date of full implementation of the Agreement by four months from the original date of March 1, 1991, and to extend the deadline for the third Agreement to June 30 of the same year. Under the terms of the fourth Lomé Agreement, EU assistance to the ACP countries is divided into two phases: in the first phase, i.e., during the first five years, financial assistance of 12 billion European currency units (approximately US$ 13.2 billion), of which 10.8 billion is allocated from the European Development Fund and 1.2 billion from loans from the European Investment Bank, amounting to a total of US$ 1.2 billion, which is more than that of the previous Lomé Agreement. A 40% increase over the previous Lomé Agreement. In the second phase (1995-2000), total assistance amounted to 14.625 billion ECUs (about $19 billion), an increase of 22 per cent over the first phase, of which $12.967 billion was allocated from the European Development Fund and $1.658 billion from European Investment Bank (EIB) loans. In addition, the two EU funds for stabilizing the ACP countries' agricultural and mineral export revenue mechanisms were increased by 62 per cent and 16 per cent, to 150,000 and 480 million European currency units, respectively. The main elements of the new agreement also include: (1) the easing of restrictions on the access of products from ACP countries to the Euratom market, with access to the Euratom market for manufactured goods with a value-added component of up to 45 per cent in the country of origin (compared to 60 per cent previously), and an increase in the number of specially financed exports to include gold and uranium; the opening up of the Euratom market for alcohol to the ACP countries since 1992; and the reduction of restrictions on their agricultural products, such as citrus, to a lower level than those imposed on the ACP countries. Since 1992, it has opened its alcohol market to the ACP countries and reduced import restrictions on their agricultural products, such as oranges, strawberries and tomatoes, without requiring these countries to return the price compensation claimed in accordance with the relevant regulations. (2) Prohibit any trade in toxic, hazardous and nuclear wastes between E***omic countries and ACP countries. (3) Earmarking 18% of all financial assistance to support the implementation of economic restructuring programs in the ACP countries.In November 1995, the EU and the ACP countries signed a new Protocol amending and supplementing the Fourth Lomé Convention. The protocol linked democracy and human rights issues to EU assistance for the first time, and stipulated that the amount of assistance received by the ACP countries would depend on their economic performance, and that the EU would be directly involved in the formulation of assistance programs instead of merely granting loans.
On September 30, 1998, the EU and the ACP countries held formal negotiations in Brussels on the renewal of the fifth "Lomé Agreement", with the following main contents: (1) on the establishment of a free trade area. The EU believes that the trend of globalization and liberalization of world trade is becoming more and more obvious, and that the existing mode of economic and trade cooperation between the EU and the ACP countries can hardly adapt to the changes in the situation, coupled with the pressure from the World Trade Organization (WTO), it therefore advocates the abolition of trade preferences enjoyed by the ACP countries, and the establishment of a free-trade zone as the goal of the two sides in the 21st century. The ACP countries, on the other hand, demanded the retention of the Trade Preferential System (TPS). (2) Linking Development Assistance to Human Rights. After proposing to amend the Lomé Agreement in September 1993 and adding "democratic intervention" to the Protocol of Amendment to the Fourth Lomé Agreement in 1995, the EU continued to insist on the linkage between aid and human rights in the current negotiations. In the current negotiations, the Government continues to insist on linking aid to human rights, and proposes that the criteria for aid should be based on the per capita GDP of the recipient country. The ACP countries expressed their dissatisfaction with this proposal, arguing that the EU has the responsibility and obligation to provide assistance and opposing the imposition of political conditions and "line-drawing" on assistance. (3) On the issue of preferential taxes. The two sides agreed to abolish the preferential tax on industrial products and 95% of agricultural products of ACP countries, which were entitled to duty-free and unlimited access to the EU market in the original agreement, but there were differences on the issue of transition period. (4) Access to the EU market for certain goods from ACP countries. The original agreement stipulated that agricultural products such as bananas, rum, sugar, rice and beef produced in ACP countries could enter the EU duty-free within a specified quantity, and tariffs would be levied on the excess. The EU proposes to keep the agreement in place for the time being, with a decision to be made after 2004. The ACP countries demanded that this be retained in the new agreement. (5) "Full cumulation" of origin. The original agreement stipulates that products from ACP countries or EU countries can be regarded as originating in the ACP countries after further processing and production, and enjoy preferential tax treatment. The EU initially plans to open its market duty-free to all products from the 48 ACP LDCs after 2005 and to further simplify the existing rules on origin. The ACP countries welcome this, but hope that it will be implemented as soon as possible. (6) Cuba's accession to the Lomé Convention. The ACP countries actively supported Cuba's accession, but the EU only allowed Cuba to participate in the negotiations as an observer, and made its human rights and democratic situation a condition for formal accession.
In 1999, the EU and the ACP countries held four ACP-EU ministerial meetings on the renewal of the Lomé Agreement in Dakar, Senegal (February), Brussels, Belgium (July and December), and Santo Domingo, Dominica (November). -EU ministerial meetings, but all ended inconclusively because the two sides were too far apart.
Early 2000, the two sides resumed negotiations in Brussels, the ACP countries in human rights, trade preferential system and other issues to make major concessions, the two sides on February 3 on the signing of the fifth "Lomé Agreement" agreement. The agreement is valid for 20 years, and its main provisions are: democracy, human rights, the rule of law and good governance as the basic principles for the implementation of the agreement, the European Union has the right to suspend the provision of assistance to countries in violation of the above principles; the European Union to gradually abolish the provision of one-way trade preferences for the ACP countries, and replace it with a transition to free trade, and the two sides to ultimately set up a free trade zone to complete the convergence with the World Trade Organization rules; the European Union will set up the ninth European Development Fund, which will be a total of 13.5 billion euros. The EU will set up the ninth European Development Fund (EDF) with a total amount of 13.5 billion euros to provide assistance to the ACP countries, and allocate 1 billion euros from the balance of the previous development funds to subsidize the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs). The fifth Lomé Agreement will enter into force in 2002, but most of its provisions, with the exception of the financial protocol, will enter into force as soon as the Agreement is signed on May 31, 2000, and the fourth Lomé Agreement will be terminated.