---

European Communities (Definition of Treaties) (Cariforum Economic Partnership Agreement) Order 2009

I thank the Minister for introducing the order. It is welcome news that 14 Caribbean nations and, we hope in due course, a 15th, will have duty-free access to EU markets. I have a few comments and questions for the Minister. First, does he have an anticipated date on which he expects Haiti to sign to make it a total of 15 countries? Perhaps he can expand on why he is confident that Haiti will indeed sign. Does the treaty come into effect whether or not Haiti signs? Secondly, there was a debate in the other place on Monday about why no impact assessment had been produced. The Minister there admitted that none had been produced, but said that the Government have worked with Caribbean countries and with their partners in the Commission to ensure that they assess the impact of provisions concerning the organisation of EPAs. I shall not ask the Minister to set out the results of that now, but it would be helpful to noble Lords if he were to write to those taking part in this debate explaining in detail that assessment of the impact of the order. Thirdly, Christian Aid has written to the Merits Committee, as the Minister will well know, saying that it believes that the likely results of the EPAs will be negative for the developing countries involved. Although the Caribbean nations have signed the EPA, it believes it should be renegotiated to reflect the development needs of the Caribbean. Could the Minister address the issues raised in its letter? Lastly, there are a number of questions about the EPA and the WTO. While the Cotonou agreement, which preceded this agreement, was deemed non-WTO compatible, this agreement is said to be compatible. Can the Minister say what brought about the reconciliation? The need for small, under-resourced Caribbean nations to engage in the time-consuming negotiation process while dealing with the WTO process has made life extremely difficult for some of them, especially in terms of physical negotiating capacity. Does he have a response to the suggestion that bilateral agreements of this kind are an unwelcome distraction from a further Doha round?