“Migration issues should not be the only challenge tackled by the Post-Cotonou Agreement” - ACP chief negotiator, Robert Dussey

Politics

Monday, 08 October 2018 18:59

“Migration issues should not be the only challenge tackled by the Post-Cotonou Agreement” - ACP chief negotiator, Robert Dussey

(Togo First) - In an article released October 3, Robert Dussey, Togo’s minister of foreign affairs, chief negotiator for the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries discussed expectations in regards to cooperation between this block and the European Union (EU), after 2020.

Two days after the start of the first round of talks on the future of the Cotonou agreement in New York, the Togolese official called both parties to be more ambitious and committed to venture on the “path to prosperity”. “We need more ambition and imagination to understand challenges of the cooperation we wish for and if we want it to be productive, fair and responsible,” Dussey said.

According to him, the new paradigm and framework under which will fall the new deal with EU, should be based on a straightforward and fair partnership. The goal is to reach an agreement that takes into account “realities and issues in each of the ACP’s geographical sphere,” and tackle the various issues of the Cotonou agreement signed in 2000.

“ACPs hope for less charity and more fairness and equity in the upcoming partnership agreement’s terms,” Dussey declared. “The ACP-EU partnership can only keep its commitments if it does not nullify efforts made by ACPs themselves to develop, and does not lead to the dismantling of these nations’ young industries and economies,” he added.

According to the minister “the post-Cotonou agreement should help achieve sustainable development in ACP countries. Right to development for ACP populations, SDGs, Paris climate change accord and the African Union’s 2063 agenda must be integrated to the future ACP-EU partnership agreement”.

Dussey also said that ACP nations, in regards to talks, should look at various topics such as economy, investment, development cooperation, research, innovation in technology, climate change, poverty reduction, security, political dialogue, and migration.

Regarding the latter, the chief negotiator said migration issues should not hinder other major challenges that the new ACP-EU agreement must tackle. “Truly, migration will be one of the key issues covered by the EU-Africa agreement but it should not overshadow the talks’ pertinence or negatively impact terms of our future cooperation agreement,” Robert Dussey said.

This remark, the minister of foreign affairs made in a context where more and more European countries seem to handle their relations with Africa through the immigrants control prism.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

REFORMS OVERVIEW

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At the fifteenth position, worldwide, and first in Africa, under the Starting a Business index of the 2020 Doing Business ranking, Togo sustains its reformative dynamics with more reforms….

ENFORCING CONTRACTS (more info)

Compared to some years ago when it was one of the lowest rankers under the Doing Business’ Enforcing Contracts indicator, Togo, leveraging many efforts to improve its business climate, was able to jump significantly on the index in the recent years... .

CONTRACT EXECUTION (more info)

Creation of special chambers of commerce for small debts • Creation of chambers of commerce at the Court of Appeal • Civil and commercial cases now handled by distinct clerks • Establishment of commercial courts in Lomé and Kara • Lawyers and bailiffs now have access to the FORSETI COMMERCIAL platform • A maximum period of 100 days was fixed to settle a commercial dispute .

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In comparison to previous years,Togo has significantly improved its ranking under the“Trading across borders” indicator by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

In comparison to previous years, Togo has significantly improved its ranking on the “Trading across borders” index by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitalization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

CONSTRUCTION PERMIT (more info)

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Out of all the 'Doing Business’ indicators, Property Registration is where Togo has improved the most since 2018. Indeed, after spending years in the lowest part of this ranking, the country now seeks to beat Rwanda which is the best performer on this index in Africa. To do so, Lomé has been introducing many reforms, with the latest batch implemented this year.

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