CARICOM Welcomes Positive Trade Negotiations With Canada

by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

19 November 2009

There was satisfactory progress between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Canada in the first round of Trade and Development Negotiations, held in Barbados, according to Gail Mathurin, Director-General of the Office of Trade Negotiations for CARICOM.

Expressing the Region’s satisfaction with CARICOM/Canada discussions towards a Free Trade Agreement, Mathurin stated that it was conducted in an “extremely amiable atmosphere.”

“The chemistry was good between the two sides and this augurs well for the way forward. It was an opportunity for both sides to present and explain their mandates, positions and approaches to several issues,” she said, adding that those specific issues included matters related to market access for agricultural goods, services, and culture and investment, and institutional issues.

Commenting on what CARICOM is seeking from such an agreement, Mathurin added: “In each subject area, we are putting forward specific development oriented proposals which the region hopes will become articles in the various facets of the agreement.” Ambassador Mathurin stated that the negotiations were poised to further strengthen longstanding relations between the Community and Canada, which is the Region’s third largest trading partner.

The negotiations are towards a revision to duties with Canada on a more flexible basis with more beneficial conditions for less developed countries as expressed in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.

Currently, trade and economic cooperation relations between CARICOM and Canada are covered under a number of instruments, including the 1979 CARICOM-Canada Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement and its Protocols.

Two-way merchandise trade between CARICOM and Canada averaged more than USD700m over the last 10 years, with a surplus averaging more than USD60m in favor of the Region.

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