Trade Ambassador,Dr richard Bernal.

The full text of the Cariforum-European Union Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) is now available to the public, posted in two parts on the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) website (www.crnm.org).

"The text that has been released reflects the result of the legal scrub which was a verification process that checked the agreement for errors and consistency in use of terminology," said CRNM director general Ambassador Dr Richard Bernal in a press statement. The EPA was initialled by trade negotiators in December, narrowly beating the deadline for a new trade pact between the parties.

The EPA is now expected to be signed by the member Cariforum states and the European Commission (EC) by June 30, two months behind the initial timetable. Bernal said the legal scrub took longer than expected.

Language translation

The time extension allows for each country to review the text of the agreement.

It also allows the EC time to secure approval from the EU General Council for its College of Commissioners to sign the EPA on behalf of the 27-member trading bloc.

"The text has been distributed to member states where a process of legal review has been inaugurated to ensure consistency between the EPA and domestic laws," said Bernal. "When that process has been completed, the respective Cabinets can confer authority to a minister to sign the EPA."

The EC is also translating the text into the official languages of the bloc. The CRNM said that Cariforum heads have committed to completing their internal reviews "in a timely manner" to facilitate signature and provisional application of the agreement by 30 June 2008.

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