Articles on Trade with Caricom

12 October 2008 - The Nation News

"IT'S NOT PERFECT. But it's a good agreement and it gives us a lot of opportunities to do things to help develop our economies."

Errol Humphrey, Barbados' Ambassador in Brussels, was reflecting on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) to be signed in Barbados on Wednesday by regional nations and the EU.

It's the first pact of its kind to be negotiated with the EU by an African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries and it has triggered an unprecedented amount of public wrangling by officials and experts in different Caribbean countries, so much so that Guyana has decided not to sign it, at least at this time.

10 October 2008 - The Jamaican Observer

The region's signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe will go ahead next week as planned, despite a move by the wider African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) group to get European Union (EU) leaders to review the deal.

Barbados' Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Business, Donville Inniss, said the decision made by heads of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) - which negotiated the pact along with the Dominican Republic as the CARIFORUM grouping - still stands.

10 October 2008 - Rickey Singh

AS THE BARBADOS GOVERNMENT continues with arrangements to host next Wednesday's signing ceremony of the controversial full Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU), current Chairman of CARICOM, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, has expressed "hope that a compromise formula could result in acceptance of two important provisions raised by Guyana as a condition to also sign".

These provisions are outlined in a proposed Draft Declaration currently being considered, and intended for release as part of the scheduled signing ceremony with representatives of CARIFORUM countries (CARICOM plus the Dominican Republic) and the EU.

09 October 2008 - Sir Ronald Sanders

Notwithstanding a decision by the meeting of Heads of Government of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group in Ghana on October 2nd and 3rd to appoint a troika to “engage in high-level consultations” on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU), several Caribbean countries will sign a full agreement on 15th October.

The two Caribbean countries that have said they will not are Guyana and Haiti. 

08 October 2008 - Caribbean360.com

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, October 8, 2008 - The region's signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe will go ahead next week as planned, despite a move by the wider African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) group to get European Union (EU) leaders to review the deal.

Barbados' Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Business, Donville Inniss, said the decision made by heads of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) - which negotiated the pact along with the Dominican Republic as the CARIFORUM grouping - still stands.

06 October 2008 - David Jessop

“The euphoria of speculators has spawned the anguish of entire peoples....Only decisive action by governments, especially in countries at the heart of the crisis, will be able to control the disorder that has spread through the world’s financial sector, with perverse impacts on the daily lives of millions of people. A dearth of rules favours adventurers and opportunists, to the detriment of real companies and workers”.

Using these words at the UN General Assembly on September 23, Brazil’s President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, spoke for the many millions of individuals across the world who have viewed recent events in international markets with revulsion.

In doing so, he enunciated a widespread fear; which is that ever wealthier speculators, hedge funds and others manipulating everything from food and energy prices through to the fortunes of sound productive companies, are quite prepared to destroy livelihoods and whole nations in their relentless pursuit of personal gain.

His words came in response to an extraordinary period of market turmoil that has brought into question the future direction of globalisation, capitalism and in particular the US administration’s laissez-faire approach to the financial markets.

29 September 2008 - David Jessop

Tucked away towards the end of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that will be signed shortly between the Caribbean and Europe is a section that deals with what are known as the institutional arrangements.

This seemingly dry legal text is in fact of considerable importance, not least because it will determine how the EPA is governed, who will benefit and how decisions will be made on its implementation. It will also determine the extent to which the private sector, Non Governmental bodies and others in civil society will be able to influence and monitor the direction of the agreement.

It therefore lies at the heart of whether the agreement can be made to operate to the benefit of the people of the region and will determine how much control the Caribbean has over its practical implementation and in theory the flow of associated development assistance.

22 September 2008 - David Jessop

Sometime on or around October 15 the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Europe and CARIFORUM will be signed in Barbados.

The decision to do so by thirteen of fifteen Caribbean heads of Government meeting in special session on September 10 follows weeks of public and private debate.

At the meeting Haiti said it was not ready while Guyana seemingly leaving itself isolated, suggested that on the basis of the outcome of a public consultation it would not sign. Despite this President Jagdeo appears to have left the door open to agreeing under duress if Europe, as appears likley, intends making Guyanese exports to Europe subject to its GSP tariff regime.

According to Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) Director General Henry Gil and regional observers alike the DR was extremely efficient in the EPA negotiating process. The country was a willing participant in the process and gave up many more concessions at key points during the negotiation process. Gil commented that the DR liberalized 5% of its national products, a figure matched only by Trinidad. Milagros Puello commented though the negotiation process was not “rosy” by any means the DR had the advantage of having a level of synergy between the public and private sector, which allowed the process to continue as smoothly as possible. Many consider this cooperation on the local level a strength of the DR. Puello, as well as Fernando Gonzalez, commented that the DR’s experience in negotiation previous trade agreements, including the DR-CAFTA, provided the groundwork for the nation to move through the process. 

19 September 2008 - DR1 Daily News

Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) Director General Henry Gil was in the DR today speaking on the much debated Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and Cariforum (the Dominican Republic and Caricom). Gil, a key figure in the negotiation process, highlighted the innovated nature of the agreement and detailed how criticisms towards the agreement have been unfounded. Gil spoke on the challenges of negotiating such an agreement, which included negotiating with EU, having to negotiate on a regional level before presenting a united position and trusting local negotiators to jump from a local stance to a regional stance. Another challenge was trusting outside negotiators and consultants to present local issues and concerns on the regional negotiation stage. According to Gil, with this agreement the region got the best deal possible. He explained that EU markets were opened in an unprecedented fashion, while limiting access to the Caribbean markets and protecting the smallest economies of the region. The EPA, through osmosis, increased the level of regional cooperation and strengthened governmental institutionally (through the agreement). An example of increasing regional cooperation, the EU required that before the Caribbean could export a product to Europe that product must be offered the same treatment on the regional level. The region agreed, establishing regional preference, and because of this the Dominican Republic, which previously couldn't import/export certain products within the region, also increased its regional access. Another innovative result of the EPA has been the inclusion of developmental aid in this agreement. According to Jean Marc Ruiz of the EU Delegation to the DR, this developmental aspect is what differentiates the EPA from the DR-CAFTA and it is one of the few free trade agreements that has stipulated developmental funding within a free trade agreement. According to Gil the EPA has tackled issues like transparency, intellectual property, competition and free movement of people within the EU and the CAribbean. The ability to move “freely” stipulates that person can go to Europe and buy or sell services for temporary periods of up to 6 months. Gil explained that many wanted visa requirements waved and lauded that as a failure of the agreement, but he rebutted that in these times it is difficult to get visa requirements waved. Detailing some aspects of the agreement Gil explained that products like rice,, which will slowly be liberalized beginning in 2010, and sugar, which has a regional quota of 60,000 tons (30,000 of which goes to the DR) were carefully scrutinized. Other products like rum and bananas require special discussions and no timetable for those discussions have been set. The DG answered rebuttals from critics by citing that the liberalization process between both sides, which some had said will happen to quickly, has in fact already begun. Gil explained that now there is a consolidated liberation schedule. Gil specifies that 53% of imports from the EU were already entering the region with low tariffs of between 0% and 3%. The remaining products will be liberalized on a graduate scale during the next 25 years, giving smaller countries a gradual period to strengthen their economies. There is also an exclusions list for a majority of products that are considered “ fragile” or of importance to the national economies of Cariforum nations. There is the possibility of renegotiating the tariff schedule for certain goods if it is noticed that they are being hurt as a result of the EPA. Furthermore there is a three year grace period for the liberalization of EU products, which means that products imported to the Caribbean from the EU will not be liberalized until 2011. This is a major plus for the Caribbean considering that the EU liberalized entry of Caribbean products effective 1 January, 2008. The EU has also opened up 90% of its production sectors, which has never before seen in the free trade agreements. According to Milagros Puello from the Dominican Chamber of Commerce, one of the DR’s challenges in making the EPA work is increasing the quality of education in the DR and educating more bi-lingual students. She added that Caricom nations already speak English, giving them an advantage, and the DR needs meet this challenge. The next step with the EPA, barring any more delays, will be the 15 October signing of the agreement in Barbados.

19 September 2008 - DR1 Daily News