BERNAL
CARICOM TRADE ministers are to fly to Washington D.C. next Wednesday to meet with their United States opposite number U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Rob Portman.
The meeting was arranged following discussions between CARICOM foreign ministers and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when they met in the Bahamas last month.
However, the delegation will be unable to meet with members of Congress as hoped, since the House of Representatives will be on recess.
DEVELOPMENT NEGOTIATIONS
Besides the future of the stalled Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the current World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Doha development negotiations, they will discuss US-CARICOM trade in the context of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI).
The CBI is currently up for renewal by the WTO.
"It is a preferential arrangement which we want to keep in place and the U.S. is our main trading partner," explained Executive Director of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery Dr. Richard Bernal.
They will also discuss the implications for CARICOM-U.S. trade should there be any change in the status of the CBI.
