(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) has requested Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to submit national lists of items on which they would be prepared to reduce or remove the Common External Tariff (CET). Such lists are to be submitted in time for final determination at a Special Meeting of the COTED to be held in late February.
The COTED took this decision after lengthy, intense but incomplete discussions in search of a single common list to fulfill the mandate of the Heads of Government at their Twelfth Special Meeting, on 7 December, 2007 in Georgetown. CARICOM Heads of Government had identified the CET as the most appropriate instrument that could be employed at the level of the Community in an effort to bring relief to the Region’s populace in the face of high food prices.
To that end they had established a Technical Team to make proposals and mandated COTED to decide on the matter by the end of January. The Technical team met on Monday 21 January and their proposals were submitted to the 25th Meeting of the COTED held under the Chairmanship of the Honourable Karl Samuda, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce of Jamaica.
Secretary-General of CARICOM, His Excellency Edwin Carrington said Friday evening that it had proved difficult at the COTED Meeting to find agreement on a common Regional list. Highlighting some of the challenges the Meeting faced, the Secretary-General pointed out that with the CET being a major revenue earner for many Member States, the revenue loss was always going to be a difficult issue to grapple with. Equally, the Regional market of Member States producing same or similar products had to be protected. Also, certain other considerations such as health had to be borne in mind. All these conditions “do not always point in the same direction,” the Secretary-General added.
Mr. Carrington told members of the media, at a press conference shortly before the Meeting concluded late on Friday night in Georgetown, that all efforts would be made to come to a decision at the earliest possible opportunity bearing in mind the mandate of the Heads of Government and the critical nature of this issue.
With regard to External Trade Relations, the Secretary-General said that drawing on the lessons learnt from the recently concluded CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations, the Region was turning its attention to preparing for negotiations with other third parties.
Other major items on the agenda of the Meeting included the Trade in Goods, and the Implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). With regard to the latter, His Excellency Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, Assistant Secretary-General Trade and Economic Integration (TEI) said discussions on that subject were “basically a stock-taking” of the progress on the CSME and included the consideration of non-tariff barriers to the movement of certain goods as well as the ease of travel for certain categories of persons in the Region. The COTED was also brought up to date with respect to the recent launch of the CARICOM Competition Commission in Suriname on 18 January.
