KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC:
UNITED STATES Trade Representative Robert Zoellick has been invited to a special meeting of the Caribbean Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) in Trinidad later this month.
This follows talks here Wednesday between US Trade Representatives and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in Kingston, centred on negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
Jamaica's Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister K.D. Knight will chair the Port of Spain meeting, which takes place ahead of a meeting of the FTAA Trade Negotiations Committee in Quito, Ecuador in October.
Director General of the Caribbean Community Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM), Dr. Richard Bernal, described Wednesday's talks, aimed at resolving differences between CARICOM and the United States on the FTAA process, as cordial.
However, he said a number of issues still needed to be resolved. The two sides are expected to hold further talks in the Dominican Republic in August.
"We exchanged views in a very amicable and frank way and I think both sides benefited from the exchange and we intend to continue dialogue at the next meeting scheduled to be held during the third week of August in Santo Domingo, it is there that we may resolve the issue," he said.
The meeting took place against the background of CARICOM resistance to proposals to reduce tariffs on agricultural products. CARICOM has proposed that a bond rate be used instead of the existing applied rate for calculating tariffs.
"The idea here was that starting from a much higher level meant that our process of reduction would take a much longer period or we would end up with a tariff differential in favour of small countries and we felt this was necessary because of the multifunctional importance of agriculture in our economies," Bernal explained.
In April, the US State Department accused the region of generating ill will during a negotiating session. However, CARICOM has insisted that it is only protecting the fragile economies of its small member states and has pointed to a controversial farm bill, approved by the US George Bush administration, providing US$6.4 billion in subsidies to US farmers.
