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EU votes to grant PNG, Fiji improved trade terms

19 January 2011, 23:38 CET

(STRASBOURG) - Favourable trading terms will be extended by the European Union to Pacific nations Papua New Guinea and Fiji, following a vote in the European Parliament on Wednesday.

Lawmakers "gave their green light" for the 27-nation bloc, the world's biggest tariff-free market and home to half a billion people, "to conclude an Interim Economic Partnership Agreement" with the two states, a statement said.

"Parliament is nevertheless concerned about the impact that an agreement would have on regional solidarity and economic integration in the Pacific region," it added.

Assembly officials said a second non-binding resolution looks at consequences "in terms of trade relations with the two countries' closest and largest trading partners, Australia and New Zealand, and also for the fishing, canning and processing industries."

Papua New Guinea was described as "a genuine hub" for processing canned tuna from countries like the Philippines, Thailand, China, the United States and Australia, and therefore "may have a destabilising effect on the EU's fish canning industry."

Lawmakers voted 540 in favour and 120 against with 20 abstentions.

European Parliament: Adopted text will be available here (click on 19 January)


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