There is profound disillusion among the assoc ‘ated states of the E.E.C. with the results of the Younde convention sig icd on July 20, 1963. They thought that they were going to find a buoader range of outlets for their products and the opportunity of stabilizing their prices, but according to a bulletin issued by the Centre d'information du Niger they have found that "their hopes were ill-founded", and the terms of trade had moved unchecked against them. The 0.C.A.M. states are particularly disappointed, They include most of France's former African colonies and embrace Cameroun, Republique Centr'Africaine, Congo Brazzaville, Congo Kinshasa, Ivory Coat, Dahomey, Gabon, Senegal, Chad, Togo, Mali (which has rejoined the franc zone), Mautitania and Somalia. The bulletin states that the annual growth rate since 1958 of exports from Latin American countries to the Six is 8.1 per cent and from Asian countries 5,7 per cent, compared with 3 per cent for 0.C.A.M. countries, "Bananas provide a typical example", notes the bulletin, Between 1964 and 1966 E.E.C. imports of bananas from Latin America shot up in value by 61.69 per cent, while sales of African banenas increased by only 10.97 per cent", It is pointed out that Article 1 of the Younde convention stipulates that its main objective is to stimulate trade between the Six and the associate members, Prices of tropical produce have fallen by between 55 and 22 per cent since 195€, as the result of the drop in world prices, in spite of the guarantees and privileges enjoyed on the French market. The Africans attack the concept of a world marxet in these terms because the price of European wheat in the E.E.C. area is 50 per cent above world market prices:- "The Six are taking effectiv< world market prices, at the sume time wanting their partners, however wesx they may be, to be bound to them... the ones who suffer from all this are the peasants of the 0.C.A.M. metres. The aid of $730m. paid the associate states in the past five years "is far from sufficient to make up for the locses brought about by the drop in selling prices", The bulletin demands a commlete reassessment of E.E.C relations with the associate countries,
ANNOUNCEMENT
Public Meeting
Tuesray 4th July 1967 at 7 pem, at the
Arab Students Union