Bahamas Seeks WTO Membership

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

14 September 2010

The Bahamas has pushed forward its agenda to gain membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The first working party meeting for the Bahamas’ accession took place on September 14, in Geneva at the WTO headquarters.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Zhivargo Laing, led the Bahamas’ team, accompanied by the Managing Partner of Deloitte Bahamas, Raymond Winder, as the chief negotiator.

Laing and Winder will be supported by the Director of Legal Affairs, the Governor of the Central Bank, the Director of Investments, and the Legal Advisor in the Ministry of Finance. They in turn will be supported by the technical staff of the Ministry of Finance headed by the Director of Economics. The Bahamas’ team also includes representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and most other private sector organizations.

The WTO was formed in 1995 as the organization responsible for monitoring and establishing rules for trading in the international community. It comprises 153 members, representing more than 97% of total world trade. There are 30 observers, most seeking membership.

According to Laing, the Bahamas is the only CARICOM country not a member, and did not join earlier primarily because it was considered that the Bahamas’ “economic and fiscal regime might have been too significantly impacted by having to comply with the rules at the time.” The Bahamas became an observer member in 2000, and applied for full membership the following year.

“Our application languished to 2007 when it was reactivated,” Laing said. “That required the Bahamas to submit a memorandum of trade regimes which is a comprehensive description of the rules, procedures and protocols with respect to trading in the Bahamas.”

“Once we did that the WTO established a working party - a committee of member countries of the world that are essentially responsible for marshalling the Bahamas’ accession application,” he added.

Commenting on the proceedings, Winder noted: “There will be some changes to some domestic laws in terms of how we go about doing business in our country. The real issue is to what extent those changes will cause considerable challenges for us, and to what extent we can negotiate the possibility of not having to implement some of those changes.”

“There are some baseline rules and protocols of the WTO and hopefully we would identify the gaps between where we are now as a country and where we need to be from a minimum point of view,” Winder added.

“We would like to become a part of WTO very quickly. That is going to require a lot of work. The government has demonstrated its willingness in this process,” he said.

Winder said that WTO membership will mean “some changes for the government in terms of having to provide clear rules… regarding how we do business in our country.”

Commenting on the impact on businesses, Laing added that changes in the way business is done “is not a concern to the Bahamas, primarily because these changes in many ways reflect enhanced transparencies, enhanced rules for doing business. This will mean that business persons will know that everybody is on the same footing in terms of what is required to start, operate or exit a business.”

Membership to the WTO will also mean that the Bahamas will be required to ensure that some safeguards are in place to protect vulnerable sectors of the economy.

“This too will be a part of what is negotiated,” Laing confirmed. “We want WTO and its members to have regard for our development needs and so ensure that whatever obligations placed on the Bahamas, should have growth and development enhancing effects.”

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