Commission reports on eighth negotiation round with five Eastern and Southern African countries to deepen existing Economic Partnership Agreement

As part of its transparency commitment, the European 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 eighth negotiation round took place both in Brussels and via video-conference between 30 May and 3 June 2022. This round included all issues covered by the negotiation process except for the Trade and Sustainable Development chapter.

The meeting was held in a positive and constructive atmosphere. Progress in this round varied depending on the thematic chapter.

The next round is tentatively scheduled to take place in September in the ESA5 region.

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Report of the eighth negotiating round

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