The Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) has urged its Member States to stick to the deadlines for implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
At its Fourteenth Meeting which ended in Georgetown, Guyana on Saturday, February 1, COTED urged Member States to accelerate the implementation of the key elements of the CSME. The meeting recognised that some Member States were unable to implement decisions due to limited human resources and agreed on steps to assist those who were affected by this limitation.
The affected Member States were requested to identify their difficulties and the technical assistance required to overcome them and indicate to the CARICOM Secretariat and its CSME Unit in Barbados which has overall responsibility for overseeing implementation of the CSME.
The Secretariat, with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has also established a Legal Drafting Facility in Georgetown, Guyana, led by Mr Duke Pollard, the former Legal Consultant to the Secretary-General, to assist the Attorneys-General Chambers in the Community with the drafting of the necessary legislation for the implementation of the CSME.
Trinidad and Tobago offered to help other Member States by providing technical assistance in areas requested.
On external trade matters the Council took note of the status of negotiations with Costa Rica and Canada towards Trade Agreements as well as the position with the CARICOM-Venezuela Trade Agreement. In the case of Venezuela, the Joint Council, which had been established under the 1992 CARICOM/Venezuela Trade and Investment Agreement has not met for five years.
The Ministers also received a report from the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) in respect of multi-lateral negotiations with particular reference to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the ACP-EU arrangements and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
Member States were encouraged to improve their participation in the negotiating process towards the FTAA. A greater presence by Member States, the Council said would lend support to the CARICOM Lead Negotiators in the various groups set up under the FTAA process. Member States were urged to submit their offers on market access in the areas of agriculture, services, investment and government procurement.
Within the ACP-EU arrangements, the Council took note of the need to begin preparations for negotiations of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union. The EPAs are a feature of the Cotonou Agreement, which governs relations between Europe and the countries of the African Caribbean Pacific Group which are principally former colonies of the European countries.
With the preparations for the WTO negotiations picking up pace prior to the Cancun, Mexico Ministerial meeting later this year, the Council reminded Member States of the urgency to submit their negotiating proposals in agriculture and offers and requests with respect to services in order to meet the established deadlines.
