Vol. 454 No. 1
69 Mr. M. Kitt asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the representations, if any, made within the EU to permit Ghana to export bananas to Europe; the views, if any, he has on whether Ghana's limited access to the EU market is in contravention of the Lomé IV Convention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10347/95]
The Lomé Convention between the European Union and the developing countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, provides, in Article 183 and in Protocol 5, for improving the conditions under which the ACP states' bananas are produced and marketed and for continuing the advantages enjoyed by traditional suppliers.
Ghana is not a traditional supplier and accordingly does not benefit from these advantages. Under the recently completed Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, 90,000 tonnes of bananas per annum may be imported duty-free from non-traditional ACP suppliers. The Commission has allocated 5,000 tonnes to Ghana and a few other small suppliers. Provisional figures for 1994 show that Ghana exported only 100 tonnes to Europe, one-fiftieth of the available quota. No representations have been made to the Government in recent times about this issue and we are not aware of any discussions in the EU on the matter.
