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CARICOM getting early commitments from Canada in new treaty

Posted by CaribShout on April 14, 2010 at 11:57pm

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, April 12, 2010 – CARICOM’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) is reporting positive recognition from Canada that a one-size-fits-all approach cannot work while negotiating with the countries of CARICOM. The OTN and Canada recently concluded in Barbados the second round of negotiations of for the proposed Trade and Development Agreement between CARICOM and Canada that is supposed to take effect next year. In reporting on the proceedings, the OTN disclosed that CARICOM had argued that the agreement should reflect special and differential (S&D) treatment for CARICOM member states. It added that Canada had been “generally receptive” to the principle of asymmetrical negotiations and had acknowledged that S&D for CARICOM should also feature in the agreement. CARICOM has within its grouping countries that have been historically defined as “more developed countries” (Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago) and “less developed countries” (Belize, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts/Nevis, and Montserrat). However, when the Caribbean Forum countries (CARICOM plus the Dominican Republic) entered negotiations with the European Union on the recently concluded Economic Partnership Agreement, one of the sticking points was the European Commission’s refusal to acknowledge that the commitments expected of the Caribbean nations should be asymmetrical based on this differentiation. Of the negotiations with Canada, the OTN stated in its recent release that: “It is expected that the commitments and provisions of the Agreement will reflect an accommodation of the differences in development between the Parties of the Agreement as well as the differentiated levels of development amongst CARICOM member states.” CARICOM’s negotiating arm also said that it was pressing to ensure that the agreement with Canada had a “development dimension” that would include various measures of development assistance. “The focus of the latter should assist the region in developing its capacity to produce and export, (ii) help develop its internal trade market, and (iii) facilitate a level of cooperation with Canada that would assist in circumventing trade challenges that currently impede its economic development,” said the statement. The 24-year-old CARICOM-Canada Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement (CaribCan) that this new agreement will replace is a goods-based non-reciprocal trade agreement that provided tariff free access for about 97 per cent of Caribbean goods into Canada. However, with the WTO pushing for an end to all non-reciprocal trade regimes, negotiators from the two regions have now to get together to hammer out an agreement that would provide a basis for Canadian goods to also get tariff free access into the Caribbean. The CaribCan agreement has been given a World Trade Organisation (WTO) waiver until 2011.
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Tags: (barbados, (belize, (caricom, -, antigua, barbuda, caricom, canada, caribbean, dominica

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