This paper discusses what Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) must offer if they are to be ‘development agreements’? It aruges that the Cotonou Partnership Agreement already provides an enabling framework for measures to improve the poverty reducing impact of trade – to contribute to poverty reduction EPAs must result in things happening that would not otherwise occur. If EPAs are to be ‘developmental’, they need to do more than merely increase trade as a share of GDP or promote economic growth. Finally, it finds that EPAs could improve on the Cotonou Partnership Agreement by supporting measures to improve supply capacity and enhancing the poverty reducing effects of increased trade.