tailieunhanh - Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and Human Rights

As seen above, the leasing sector is new but growing and leases are written for three-to-five year terms. The banking sector is consolidating, assets are growing, deposits are on the increase, and the sector is liquid. However, the banks perceive the rewards of short-term lending utilizing highly liquid assets and long-term loans utilizing real estate as collateral are greater than the risks of long-term lending to the agriculture or industrial sectors secured by equipment. The agricultural and industrial sectors contribute significantly to Georgia’s GDP, and they account for a substantial share of the country’s employment,. | f itfh . Federation Internationale des ligues des droits de I Homme ORGANISATION INTERNATIONALE NON GOUVERNEMENTALEAYANTSTATUTCONSULTATIF AUPRES DES NATIONS UNIES DE L UNESCO DU CONSEIL DE L EUROPE ET D OBSERVATEURAUPRES DE LA COMMISSION AFRICAINE DES DROITS DE L HOMME ET DES PEUPLES International Federation for Human Rights Federacion Internacional de los Derechos Humanos jL-jyi ẽ A4 Position Paper Economic Partnership Agreements EPAs and Human Rights Historical Human Rights in European Community and ACP countries Economic Partnership Agreements and Human - Possible impacts of EPAs on human - - - Intellectual - Investments - Singapore June 2007 Economic Partnership Agreements EPAs and Human Rights Historical background on agreements between the European Community EC and African - Caribbean - Pacific ACP countries The history of economic relations between African - Caribbean - Pacific ACP countries most of them former European colonies and the European Union EU is very long. Since decolonization several cooperation agreements have defined these relations. The first the Treaty of Yaounde goes back to 1964 and was followed by the five Lomé agreements. The last of these was replaced with the Cotonou Agreement on February 29 2000. The Lomé agreements established a privileged trade relationship between ACP countries and the European Community EC with non-reciprocal trade preferences ACP products benefited from more advantageous customs duties than the products from other regions upon entrance to European territory while ACP countries were not committed to give the same advantages to European products . At the time this non-reciprocity was justified by the economic development differential between Europe and ACP countries. According to the Cotonou Agreement the new objectives of the relation between these two partners are poverty eradication sustainable .