Firstly, the trade deal proposed by the EU in the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) is generally denounced by African leaders for their expected negative impact on African nations' development.
In this regard, the ITUC and ETUC are particularly concerned about the employment effect of EPAs and have called upon the EU to extend the negotiation process beyond the official deadline of 31 December 2007.
Secondly, the presence of President Mugabe of Zimbabwe in the Summit was a source of strong divergence between African and European Leaders.
Both ETUC and ITUC who strongly denounce the massive violations of human and trade union rights taking place in this country, had expressed their whish to see the Summit addressing the human rights situation in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately the crisis in Zimbabwe is not even mentioned in the Summit.
International Trade Union Confederation
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