Suriname’s ambassador to the European Union (EU), Gerard Hiwat, on Tuesday is expected to defend the ACP’s position on the banana trade with Europe, during a meeting with WTO’s Director General Pascal Lamy, Trade Minister Clifford Marica said in an invited comment Monday.

Marica noted that it appears that the EU, as a result of a recent WTO ruling, which came after a challenge by the USA and Central American banana producers, is likely to reduce or strike off its 176 euros duty per ton for banana imports.

This will seriously harm the banana industry in Africa and especially the Caribbean, since several regional economies and thousands households depend heavily on this industry.

“If the European Union reduces or nullify the tariffs, the ACP countries won’t be able to compete with the Latin American producers, since those producers have better production facilities and structures and could export at a much lower price,” minister Marica warned. “Therefore we are calling on the EU and the WTO to reconsider the decision to abandon the tariffs,” he added.

At a meeting on February 12, 2008, the Caribbean Banana Exporters Association (CBEA), representing the banana exporting interests of Belize, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Suriname and the Windward Islands, met with their counterparts of Cameroon and Cote d' Ivoire to discuss pressing concerns over the European banana trade.

While the various Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the Caribbean region, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and the European Union were welcomed, the CBEA expressed grave concern that the EU seemed to back out of prior assurances.

According to Marica, in an effort to safeguard the viability of the ACP banana industries and the livelihood of the producers, the meeting urged the EU to discuss this matter again. Reportedly separate letters were sent to EU Commissioner Peter Mandelson and WTO Chief Pascal Lamy for an invitation to explain the ACP’s position and concerns. Suriname’s ambassador in Brussels Gerard Hiwat was therefore appointed and subsequently invited by Lamy to discuss the matter Tuesday.

During the CBEA meeting with its African partners earlier this month, the EU has been invited to “recognize the structural, social and economic factors that justify the long standing preference granted to banana industries of the ACP; recognize that under the current EU tariff structure, from January 2006 to November 2007, ACP exports have grown by 74,000 tonnes while Latin American exports have grown by 635,000 tonnes,” the organization said in a statement.

The participants also argued for the EU “not make a premature offer for bananas in their negotiations with Central America or other non-ACP regions”. The Suriname Trade Minister recognises, however, that if the ACP lose this battle, banana producers should try finding ways and means to produce more efficiently and at lower cost in order to survive.

“But it won’t be easy, since there will remain certain factors which contribute to higher production costs for banana growers in our region than in Central America,” Marica noted.