Ms Mary Barrett:

Deputy O'Sullivan spoke of the Caribbean agreement not being a great success. I do not think the Minister of State, in his opening statement, claimed that it was. There is a recognition that the global economic crisis had an impact on implementation. As I said, trade agreements just provide a framework and there is a recognition that both sides have to work very hard to reap the benefits they can potentially bring. In saying that, the Caribbean agreement is showing us the way these agreements can work. The overseeing committees are in place and taking on board the concerns raised by the Caribbean side. The Caribbean side has brought forward issues about the timing of the tariff lifting and the EU is listening and trying to accept longer phasing and so forth. The Minister of State addressed some of the points Deputy O'Sullivan raised on CONCORD, west Africa and so forth. I will, therefore, address the Cuba point. Cuba is not a signatory of the 2000 Cotonou agreement. The EPAs flow from the 2000 Cotonou agreement, which gave the mandate for the negotiations agreed by both sides. This means that Cuba is not party to the EPAs.