Rangel Urges More Assistance For CARICOM Countries In FTAA

by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, New York

30 July 2003

United States Representative Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), who sits on the influential House Ways and Means Committee, has urged the US government to offer more financial and technical assistance to CARICOM member states in order to ease transition into the FTAA for the fragile Caribbean economies in 2005.

“With regard to the FTAA negotiations, the CARICOM countries have expressed some concerns about the pace of negotiations and your ability to keep up, given limited resources,” Rangel stated in a letter to Jamaican Prime Minster P.J Patterson, the current CARICOM chairman.

“We must take into account the current United States-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) negotiations as well as the broader negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA),” continued the New York Democrat according to a Barbados Nation News report. “While I believe that the United States should continue to strive toward greater economic integration with all its close neighbours in the region, I also believe that we must not damage the 20-plus year history of the CBI (Caribbean Basin Initiative) programmes in conducting the CAFTA negotiations,” Rangel added.

There is widespread worry amongst the prospective participants in the FTAA and CARICOM that the poorer nations in the region will be unable to compete on a level playing field with the likes of the United States. Also, many are concerned that the loss of valuable revenue raised from the levying of tariffs will undermine some of the region's economies.

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