*Yash Tandon, Ugandan political economist and senior advisor to the South Centre intergovernmental think tank on developing countries in Geneva, Switzerland says' the current course of the talks on economic partnership agreements (EPAs) is particularly destructive for low income African countries and may contract democratic space in such countries even further'. These were contained in a recent interview he granted IPS in South Africa. Below are excerpts from the interview.

How do the problems presented by the EPAs affect poorer countries in Africa? If you look at the sections which the smaller counties of Africa are being forced to sign with the EU, you find that some of these include issues that are already precluded by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

In the WTO it is agreed that issues like competition policy, investment policy and government procurement - the so-called Singapore issues - are outside the WTO remit. But countries in Africa are being forced by the EU to negotiate these as part of the EPA

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