BRUSSELS, May 15: European Union countries agreed on Tuesday to open their markets to African, Caribbean and Pacific nations by scrapping most tariffs and quotas on their exports, despite reluctance from banana growers.

The EU and the 78-nation ACP are struggling to make progress to conclude new trade agreements by the end of the year, when a current preferential market access accord is due to expire.

At a meeting in Brussels, EU development ministers endorsed a European Commission proposal made in April under which all quotas and tariffs on ACP goods would be lifted once a deal was signed, apart from rice and sugar.

Levies on sugar would be phased out by 2015 while a reform in subsidies for EU sugar farmers is carried out and a firm date has not yet been set for rice, although this would happen sooner.

The offer, sealed just before EU and ACP ministers meet on May 25, does not cover South Africa, which has a bilateral trade agreement with the 27-member Union.

Spain, France and Portugal, the EU's biggest banana growing countries, argued that bananas should also figure under the category of “sensitive products”, diplomats said.

EU officials said under a compromise adopted on Tuesday, the Commission would study whether or how bananas could be included. “If necessary, we will make adequate proposals for bananas,” one said.

The ACP group, made up mostly of former European colonies, has benefited from preferential access to EU markets since the signing of the Lome accord in 1975.

But other equally poor countries, mostly in Latin America, have contested the ACPs' preferential treatment and have won backing from the WTO.

In 2001, the world trade referee gave the EU until the end of this year to come up with a new framework that would be more compatible with international rules of commerce.

After their WTO defeat, the Europeans and the ACP opened talks in 2002 for new so-called economic partnership agreements which are being conducted by regions -- eastern, central and southern Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The European Union has regretted that a civil aviation agreement that is key to its support for Russia's WTO bid will not be signed at an EU-Russia summit this week.

An EU official said on Tuesday: “We regret that the agreement can't be signed at the summit, it would have been a good opportunity.” The official, with close knowledge of the accord, was talking to reporters in Brussels on condition of anonymity.

“We need to resolve this issue before Russia's accession to the WTO (World Trade Organisation),” he said. “This was one of the conditions.” The EU-Russia summit, starting in the Russian city of Samara on Thursday, has been marked by tensions over issues ranging from Moscow's ban on Polish food products to its threat to veto wide autonomy for Kosovo.

But officials in Brussels had hoped to be able to make progress on the aviation accord, which includes a decision to phase out taxes paid by European airlines flying over Siberia by 2013.

The EU has long lobbied Russia to end taxes on all flights to Asia that must fly over Siberia.

The charges cost European airlines about 330 million euros ($446 million) last year but any detour would be too costly in jet fuel and time lost.

The civil aviation agreement was initialled by both sides in November and ratified by the EU's 27 member countries on May 7.

EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot was due to meet Russia's ambassador in Brussels later on Tuesday, and the official said he would pass on a letter “expressing the urgency and the need to make progress.” “Before it is signed and ratified and enters into force, nothing of what has been agreed will start taking effect,” the official said.

Despite the delay, the official expressed confidence that Russia wants to ratify the accord.

“We should not over-dramatise,” he said, noting that Russia has a special interest in ratifying the accord as 75 per cent of all Russian flights head toward the EU.

“We expect the Russian federation to sign the agreement soon and we will use the opportunity of this summit to push for this,” he said.—AFP