Fiji is set to eliminate duties on specific import categories from European Union member states as part of its commitment to the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (IEPA), which is a trade agreement between the EU and several Pacific nations.
The announcement was made in Suva by Manoa Kamikamica, Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister for Trade, MSME, and Communications, alongside Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU’s executive vice-president and Commissioner for Trade.
According to a statement by the Trade Ministry, the IEPA is designed to enhance bilateral trade while promoting sustainable development and integrating Fiji into the global economy. The European Union has already removed customs duties and quotas on all imports from Fiji, and now Fiji has opted to phase out these duties on the agreed-upon tariff lines from EU member states, referred to as the committed basket of tariff lines.
However, certain tariffs on selected EU imports will remain in place to safeguard Fiji’s food security and support the growth of local value chains, identified as the exclusion basket of tariff lines.
The IEPA aims to provide cheaper inputs for Fiji’s local products and is anticipated to invigorate its fisheries sector, particularly the tuna industry. A key feature of the IEPA allows for fish caught by foreign vessels but processed in any Pacific IEPA country to be exported to the EU free of duty and without quotas, regardless of the fish’s origin.
Once these provisions are implemented, Fiji hopes to export processed fish sourced from approved foreign vessels to the EU. The country aims to attract further investments to replicate the success of its fisheries exports to the EU, similar to what Papua New Guinea has achieved.
The IEPA was signed by the EU and Fiji in 2009, with the EU applying it provisionally from that point, while Fiji began its application in 2014.