MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA – CARIFORUM member states’ senior officials and experts, with responsibility for trade, and specialists from regional and international bodies are meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The four-day meeting will prepare the region for the Fifth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico, September 10 to 14. The Ministerial Conference marks the half-way mark for Doha Agenda negotiations launched in Doha, Qatar, November 2001. The Ministerial is expected to take stock of progress in the Doha mandated global trade negotiations and provide necessary political guidance. Currently underway in Montego Bay, the meeting, entitled: Caribbean Region Pre-Cancun Meeting, being held June 16 to 19, has been organized by the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM), in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Netherlands-based ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Co-operation (CTA). The record of achievement in the Doha process, to date, has been very limited. Troubled global trade talks have been marked by missed deadlines in several key areas of the round. Agriculture is particularly important to the Caribbean region and to the WTO negotiations and is a priority of the meeting this week. Also on the agenda is: non-agricultural market access, services, trade-related aspects of intellectual property (TRIPS) and Public Health, Geographical Indications, special and differential treatment (S&DT), small economies, the so-called Singapore Issues (investment, competition policy, trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement), rules and dispute settlement, trade and debt finance, trade and transfer of technology, and, trade and environment. According to RNM Director-General, Ambassador Dr. Richard Bernal, “the meeting will refine and deepen thinking on the Doha Round. It will examine the prospects and the way forward for the Cancun Ministerial. Information, perspectives and positions provided by officials/experts will be pooled together. The intention is for the RNM to consolidate these views into a draft declaration. The goal is to enable the countries of the region to participate at Cancun with a clear understanding of the subject matter and issues, their implications and where the region’s interests lie, as well as an appreciation of the objectives of other countries”. The draft declaration will be circulated to member states, after the meeting, for comment prior to tabling it for the consideration of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Montego Bay, July 2 to 5. Efforts at coordination amongst Caribbean countries in external trade matters is not taking place in isolation. The draft declaration will be integral to forging a common position for Cancun among the Africa Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Group. It will feed into an ACP Trade Ministers preparatory meeting scheduled for Brussels, July 30 to 31. The Caribbean position developed in the draft declaration will also contribute to other coordinated initiatives. For example, a coordination meeting is being planned for countries without missions in Geneva; several Caribbean countries have been invited to participate. The opening ceremony and reception, for the meeting, took place the evening of June 15. Key note speakers included: Ambassador Dr. Richard Bernal, Director-General, RNM; Ms. Marcia Thomas, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Jamaica (who delivered a statement on behalf of Hon. K.D. Knight, QC, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Jamaica); Dr. Roman Grynberg, Commonwealth Secretariat; and, Dr. Carl Greenidge, CTA. The Ambassador highlighted that the significance of this meeting is in deepening the preparatory process for the region prior to the Cancun Ministerial. “The meeting will ensure more effective participation of the Caribbean countries at Cancun as they would have designed a regional negotiating position”, he added. In a prepared statement delivered on behalf of Hon. K.D. Knight he called for a CARICOM Ministerial Declaration to be issued outlining the region's positions on the WTO issues. “This Declaration could be circulated at the WTO, be a guide for our representatives, and could be the region's input into the ACP Trade Ministers' Meeting to be held in Brussels, July 30 to 31, 2003. It is important that we have a strong and unified position, as CARICOM, and as the ACP”, the Minister’s statement added. In their opening remarks Dr. Grynberg and Dr. Greenidge stressed that few positive outcomes had materialized for developing countries in the Doha Round of multilateral negotiations. In their view the meeting of CARIFORUM member states’ senior trade officials and experts is critical in spearheading a process where the region’s agenda at Cancun can be clearly identified, consulted on and specific positions formulated in preparation for the Cancun Conference. The meeting, in Montego Bay, will benefit from the technical expertise of representatives of: the CARICOM Secretariat, the Commonwealth Secretariat, CTA, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA), Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Secretariat, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the Geneva-based WTO Secretariat. Caribbean Ambassadorial representatives from Geneva will also participate, as will trade specialists from the RNM and the CARICOM College of Negotiators for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) For More Information Contact: Nand C. Bardouille Tel: (246) 430-1678 email: nand.bardouille@crnm.org
