KINGSTON, Jamaica – OUR commendation goes to fellow columnist Sir Ronald Sanders for his insightful and descriptive piece on the Cariforum states and the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU (Sunday Observer 7th April ).
This agreement has been somewhat of a non-starter since its provisional acceptance on 15th October 2008, and has not yet been ratified. The reasons for this inertia must be shared between the region's governments and private sectors, particularly in Jamaica, where the business community paid scant regard to the EPA negotiations, and are now in a quandary as to how to unlock the benefits that the agreement purports to provide.