Commission reports on thirteenth negotiation round with five Eastern and Southern African countries to deepen existing EPA

As part of its transparency commitments, the Commission has published the report summarising progress made during the latest negotiation round to deepen the existing Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with five Eastern and Southern African partners (ESA5): Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe.

The 13^th negotiation round took place in Moroni, Comoros, from 18-22 March 2024.

This round included discussions at technical level on all open thematic parts covered by these negotiations. It allowed for the provisional conclusion of the 'Fisheries and Aquaculture’ and ‘Technical Barriers to Trade’ chapters (the fourth and fifth ones in this process), the quasi-conclusion of three additional chapters (‘Customs and Trade Facilitation’, ‘Competition’ and ‘Transparency in Public Procurement’) for which compromise proposals were exchanged, and for substantive progress to be made on other topics.

A date for the 14^th round of EU-ESA5 negotiations is subject to each party’s assessment of the progress achieved.

More information

Report of the 13^th negotiating round  

EU-Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA5) EPA deepening negotiations