Potentials and risks of free trade agreements for developing countries using the example of the EU and selected Southand South-East African countries
- Today’s world is marked by growing economic ties and an increasing focus on
homogenizing countries and continents – yet at the same time, the gap between rich and
poor countries widens. The expansion of interrelations on political, economic and social levels led to the rise of new free trade agreements covering a developmental component as well, which can be highly influential for the economic situation of a developing country. For that reason, the present paper aims at pointing out the influences of EU trade relations on African communities. In order to do so, general potentials and risks as well as impacts based on a number of studies and figures will be illustrated and the current European Partnership Agreements between the EU and a number of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries will serve as in-depth example for the present research. A comparative analysis between the Caribbean, in which the Agreement has already been implemented since 2008, and the African region will further serve as a basis for future estimations on how European Partnership Agreements will likely impact Africa after their implementation. Besides the potentials that serve as legitimation for implementing free trade agreements with a focus on the developmental aspect for developing countries, the findings reveal a number of risks and challenges that need to be addressed. Furthermore, the paper provides the reader with an assessment of the dependency relation between the EU and Africa as
well as an aggregation of future expectations.