(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will benefit from a Regional workshop on International Trade in Services set for 11-14 April in Barbados, geared to equip the Region for its new trade arrangements in the international arena and more so within the context of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
The three-day exercise will be spearheaded by Caribbean Trade and Competitiveness Program (C-TRADECOM), a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded project, and will bring together representatives from National Statistical Offices, Central Banks and Regional and international organisations, as well as representatives of the private sector.
The workshop will examine the findings and outputs of a project that was jointly executed by C-TRADECOM and the CARICOM Secretariat in 2004 to enable the production of statistics on International Trade in Services and Foreign Direct Investment.
Among the major objectives of the workshop are, focused training on the methodological approach recommended at the national level for compiling trade in services statistics and the presentation of a review of data compiled in selected Member States. It will also highlight the gaps and deficiencies and suggest methods of estimations and sources of information that can improve the quality of existing statistical data across Member States. In addition, participants will receive insights into utilising Information Technology (IT) to compile Regional and National databases on services statistics.
The Regional workshop is also intended to inform stakeholders on the contextual background of the developmental work on statistics in Trade in Services relative to the establishment of the CSME, and the hemispheric and global context of the Free Trade Area of The Americas (FTAA) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Against this backdrop, the sessions will underscore the Region's need to provide data for its negotiators, policy makers and investors, to enhance the effective operation and benefits to be derived from the Community's new economic integration and trading arrangements with the FTAA and the WTO.
The C-TRADECOM project which ends next month, was executed by a team of consultants, including experts in the areas of National Accounts, Balance of Payments, International Economic Classification Systems, Survey and Sampling methodologies and Information Technology. The project represents a continuation of the Region's focus on the area of Statistics that commenced through a Canadian International Development Assistance (CIDA)-funded Project in 2001/2002.
The initiative on Statistics on International Trade in Services and Investment is seen as critical to the establishment and monitoring of the provisions of the CSME, as well as other International and hemispheric negotiations. It is hoped that with capacity strengthening in the area of statistics, Member States will be better prepared for the increased commercial activity that will accompany the establishment of the CSME.
CONTACT:
Carolyn Walcott
cwalcott@caricom.org
