CARICOM prepares for WTO conference

Patterson

THE PRIME MINISTERIAL Sub-Committee on External Negotiations has mandated a meeting of CARICOM Trade Ministers to identify and prepare the Caribbean's position on issues likely to arise at the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Fourth Ministerial Conference scheduled for Doha, Qatar in November.

The P.J. Patterson-chaired Sub-Committee met at Jamaica House on Friday and Saturday to review the state of the region's preparations for upcoming negotiations in the WTO, on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and on new trading arrangements between the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP).

In discussing the region's negotiating strategy, the Sub-Committee noted that the WTO's Ministerial Conference is the major forum for forging consensus in the creation of a rules-based, multilateral trading system, and was vital for the promotion of the Caribbean's interest.

It threw its support behind next week's meeting of CARICOM Trade Ministers with Director General of the WTO, Mike Moore, to be held in Jamaica, where Ministers will give their perspective on the operation of the WTO system. They also supported the planned meeting of ACP Trade Ministers ahead of the Doha meeting. That meeting will promote greater consultation and co-ordination of the work of the 50 ACP states that are also members of the WTO.

Regarding the FTAA, the Sub-Committee approved the appointment of Andrew Downes, Professor of Economics at the University of the West Indies (UWI), as lead negotiator for the consultative group on smaller economies, and approved a slate of lead negotiators for separate areas of discussions, including market access, services, investments, intellectual property rights, and agriculture.

A schedule of activities was approved to ensure the region is technically well prepared for each area of negotiation by May 2002. Detailed technical studies on issues of non-trade concern and special and differential treatment in agriculture were authorised by the Sub-Committee. The CARICOM Working Group on Services was mandated to develop a full negotiating brief when it meets in Antigua and Barbuda from July 23-27.

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