– CARICOM Secretary-General urges trade ministers

CARICOM Secretary-General Dr. Carla Barnett has called on the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) to adopt realistic and practical decisions that everyone in the Community can rely on.

Dr. Barnett made the call at the opening of the Fifty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the COTED, on Wednesday at the CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana, where she also urged Ministers of Trade to make full use of the Treaty’s rules and flexibilities on agenda items, particularly those that are sensitive.

She commended the progress being made in several areas, such as implementing the approved categories of workers under the Free Movement of Skills Regime of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

“As this COTED deliberates, we are reminded that the framers of the Revised Treaty sought to be careful to strike the right balance between the common interests of the Community and the interests of Member States within our Community of sovereign states. They did not intend to promote winners and losers; rather, the objective is a community that supports enhanced trade, investment, integration of production, and development for all,” Dr. Barnett said.

Chair of the Meeting, Senator the Hon. Paula Gopee-Scoon, Minister of Trade and Industry of Trinidad and Tobago, highlighted the extensive agenda on which the ministers will deliberate during the two-day meeting. Discussions will centre on matters including the free movement of Community nationals, the Revised Draft Policy on the Regulation of Mergers and Acquisitions, trade in goods, and the status of the Community Intellectual Property Framework.

On the external trade front, the Ministers will focus on multilateral developments from the 13th World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference, CARICOM-Colombia negotiations and partial scope agreements.

“I want to emphasise this morning the important role that has been assigned to us in COTED as the Council that addresses the Single Market and trade and economic development issues that are at the forefront of our community’s agenda,” Minister Gopee-Scoon said.

The meeting concludes today. (CARICOM)