The European Union says reports in the Fiji media that the country's sugar industry will enjoy preferential market access through to 2023 are wrong.
Last week, the Fiji Times quoted the permanent secretary to the sugar industry, Lieutenant Colonel Manasa Vaniqi, as saying he has been assured Fiji sugar would continue to enjoy EU access at a rate significantly higher than the world price.
But the EU Ambassador in Suva, Andrew Jacobs, says this is either a misunderstanding or a mistake.
He says in 2017 the production quota system will end and the only way Fiji can ensure a beefed-up price from the EU is by promptly committing to an Economic Partnership Agreement.
"And what is important for Fiji is that on the first of October 2014 the market access regulation expires. So we are hoping to move forward with the negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreement which would allow Fiji to continue to benefit from the market access it has now."
The EU Ambassador to Suva Andrew Jacobs.
The latest round in EPA with Pacific nations is underway in Suva this week.
