(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Her Excellency Ambassador Gail Mathurin, Director-General of the Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat indicated on Monday that the Region was satisfied with the first round of the CARICOM/Canada Trade and Development Negotiations, held November 9-13 in Bridgetown, Barbados.
She was at the time speaking a press briefing at which she was introduced to the media by CARICOM Secretary-General His Excellency Edwin Carrington as the new Director-General of OTN. Ambassador Mathurin also took the opportunity to give an update on the external trade agenda for the Community. The press briefing was held via video conference, involving Guyana and Barbados.
Expressing the Region’s satisfaction with the first round of the CARICOM/Canada trade discussion, the OTN Direct-General 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,” she stated. “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 good, services, culture and investment, institutional issues.
With regard to CARICOM’s interest in a strong development component within the agreement, the Ambassador said the Region’s negotiators took full advantage of that element of its mandate, which they intended to advocate in two main ways.
In the first instance, she said, the Region was seeking a “distinct, separate and discreet chapter” on development co-operation.
“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.
Further, she stated, CARICOM was strongly advocating that the agreement should make provisions for the varying levels of development among CARICOM countries as expressed in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas in respect of special treatment of Less Developed Countries.
In this regard, the OTN Director noted that Canada recognised the need for asymmetry and signalled its willingness to work with the region in the development agreement in a way that was creative and flexible.
Ambassador Mathurin stated that the negotiations were poised to further strengthen long standing relations between the Community and Canada, which is the Region’s third largest trading partner.
Currently, trade and economic co-operation relations between CARICOM and Canada are covered under a number of instruments, including the 1979 CARICOM-Canada Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement and its Protocols, including the 1998 Protocol on Rum; CARIBCAN which grants unilateral duty free access to eligible goods from beneficiary countries in the English-speaking Caribbean up to 2011.
Two-way merchandise trade between CARICOM and Canada averaged more than $700 million (US) over the last ten years with a surplus averaging more than $60 million (US) in favour of the Region.
