By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –
ZAMBIA will make a decision on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) through Cabinet once consultations with various stakeholders are concluded.
Zambia is negotiating  EPAs with the European Union under the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) configuration.
Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Margret Mwanakatwe said a decision would only be made once consultations are undertaken on the outcome of the national consensus through a Cabinet memorandum.
On November 12, 2015, inclusive consultations were held to get views from stakeholders on how to proceed in light of European Union demand and the position of Zambia in these negotiations.
Ms Mwanakatwe said several issues were raised by stakeholders to uphold Zambia-European Union relations and remain engaged in the negotiations.
Ms Mwanakatwe said Zambia’s interest was to ensure that future relations with the EU remained healthy and beneficial in the sense of true economic partnership.
“There have been discussions within the  ESA region as whether the four that have signed the interim EPAs should proceed with negotiations in the absence of  the rest of the group  and allow all to accede to the agreement at any time when they become ready,” she said.
Ms Mwanakatwe said issues were extensively discussed  during  the ESA council of Ministers held on December 6, 2015.
“The issue has been that  contents  of the EPAs must be defined by all interested countries so that at the time of accession, individual countries would take a decision based on an agreement  whose contents  they have influenced during the negotiating process,” she said.
Ms Mwanakatwe said the EPAs should not be about market  access alone but must   be accompanied by adequate financial support,  capacity  building and adjustment for the benefit  of the EPAs participating  countries.