CARICOM Trade Ministers, Portman Agree on Council to Advance Trade Relations

WASHINGTON, DC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-US trade relations received a boost today, as a result of a decision by the two sides to revitalize a long-dormant Trade and Investment Council (TIC). This decision was reached at a meeting of CARICOM Trade Ministers with United States Trade Representative Rob Portman in Washington, D.C. this afternoon.  One of eight CARICOM Ministers at the meeting, Hon. Anthony Hylton, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, said of the encounter, “we came away with a practical mechanism on which to build further on CARICOM-US trade relations.  The TIC will provide an important forum for dialogue on trade relations.”
The CARICOM-US TIC was established in the early 1990s, with Ambassador Bernal, Jamaica’s Ambassador to the US at the time, serving as lead spokesperson for CARICOM in that forum. The concept of a revitalized Council is being put forward as that architecture needs to take account of “new circumstances.”  The Council will enable consideration of a wide-range of trade- and investment-related issues.
At the meeting, Co-Chaired by Hon. Kenneth Valley the Minister of Trade and Industry of Trinidad & Tobago for the CARICOM side and Ambassador Portman, CARICOM emphasized that it attaches great importance to its trade relations with the United States, a major export market for the Region.  Minister Valley noted that the meeting provided CARICOM with an important opportunity to apprise Ambassador Portman on key trade issues germane to the Region.  The CARICOM Co-Chair described today’s encounter, the first of its kind between CARICOM Trade Ministers and their US counterpart since he took office, as an “excellent first meeting, that allowed for a frank exchange of views on trade issues germane to CARICOM.”  Hon. Clement Rohee, Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation of Guyana, said of the meeting, “it forms a good basis for further engagement. We feel that Ambassador Portman is interested in looking seriously at our issues as small, vulnerable economies.”
A priority issue on the agenda of the meeting, the two sides discussed the status of the request by the United States for a renewal (until September 30, 2008) of the current World Trade Organization (WTO) waiver for the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), which expired on December 31, 2005.  The renewal of the waiver is of economic and political importance to CARICOM beneficiary countries; a point reaffirmed by CARICOM to the US side, along with a reiteration of the importance the Region attaches to CBERA preferences.  To date, the request for renewal of the waiver has not been approved, with some countries blocking consensus. CARICOM was advised by the US side at today’s meeting that the opposition to the waiver renewal request has diminished, with many of the opponents to the request having since modified their positions.
The status of Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations and prospects for future US-CARICOM trade relations were also explored.  As the US is one of the two current FTAA Ministerial Co-Chairs, the CARICOM side engaged USTR Portman in an exchange on the status of the process for these hemispheric talks, in hiatus for two years now.  While Ambassador Portman reaffirmed the commitment of the United States to FTAA negotiations, he cautioned that because issues under negotiation in this hemispheric process – like Agriculture – are tied to their advancement at the WTO level, the ability of the FTAA process to move forward was premised on movement in troubled WTO talks.
The United States has actively been pursuing a parallel trade policy in the Hemisphere, through the negotiation of FTAs with several FTAA participating countries. In light of these developments, CARICOM Member States have been assessing the Region’s strategic trade options in the Hemisphere, and in particular with the United States. “On a bilateral arrangement, our discussions were essentially information gathering in nature, intended to feed into CARICOM’s consideration of the nature of a future CARICOM-US trade arrangement,” said the Director General of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery Ambassador Dr. Richard Bernal.  Emerging from these exploratory discussions, USTR Portman indicated that he was receptive to enhancing US trade relations with CARICOM beyond the current unilateral preferential schemes.  The expectation is that this issue will form one of many that will go before the newly revitalized TIC, which could meet as early as this Summer.
There was also an exchange of views on a proposed Conference on the future of the Caribbean.  Dame Billie Miller, Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados, said of this meeting that it would seek to bring into “sharp focus” a broad-range of issues of critical importance to the Region’s future development.  The date for the convening of this high-level event is expected to be June 2007.
The status and outlook for the WTO Doha Development Agenda was examined. CARICOM registered its concern with the inability of major WTO players to date to strike agreement on ‘core issues’ in respect of full modalities, with the April modalities deadline looming.  CARICOM countries consider the on-going WTO talks as important for their future development.  CARICOM attaches great importance to the successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round; however, success should not come at the expense of the development dimension, which is supposed to be at the heart of these negotiations. As a leading grouping of small, vulnerable economies in the WTO arena, CARICOM – as was relayed at today’s meeting – is concerned that its development interests are not receiving the attention they should be. The CARICOM side took the opportunity to seek the support of the United States on those issues in the negotiations which are of key interest to the economic development of the small, vulnerable economies of CARICOM.  As small, vulnerable economies with a variety of capacity constraints, CARICOM also placed on record its appreciation for the contribution of the US of $1 million for trade-related technical assistance to the WTO.
The request for the reallocation of CARICOM countries’ US sugar quota shortfalls within CARICOM was also raised in the meeting, with Minister Rohee – who is the CARICOM Ministerial Spokesperson on Sugar – taking the lead on this issue.
Finally, a statement reflecting CARICOM regional solidarity with the position of Antigua & Barbuda in the WTO Internet Gaming case was read in the meeting.  (The statement is available on www.crnm.org)
The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago were represented at Ministerial level at today’s meeting.  Antigua & Barbuda, St Vincent & the Grenadines and Suriname were represented at Ambassadorial level. The CARICOM Secretary General H.E. Edwin Carrington and Ambassador Bernal also attended the meeting.