Poor countries must not be forced into opening markets or obliged to accept new rules governing foreign investment and competition law, the UK has told the European Commission.
The warning came ahead of a meeting today in Luxembourg of European Union trade and development ministers to discuss European aid and trade policies towards developing countries. The EU is renegotiating a long-standing scheme that gives special access to European markets to exports from more than 70 poor countries from the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping, mainly former European colonies.
