Guyana was not among thirteen Cariforum member states that signed the Eco-nomic Partnership Agree-ment (EPA) with the European Commission (EC) in Barbados yesterday, but President Bharrat Jagdeo says he will sign on before the end of the month.
The signing ceremony took place at the Sherbourne Centre in Bridgetown with Barbados Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Business, Christopher Sinckler endorsing the efforts of the negotiators, ministers and Heads of Government to deliver the best agreement possible, a Caricom press release said. Those signing the agreement were: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, The Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
President Jagdeo told the media at State House yesterday that he informed Cariforum Secretary General Edwin Carrington that Guyana would sign the agreement before month end, in the spirit of compromise and its commitment to regional integration, and after proposals he put forward to strengthen the agreement were accepted. Guyana’s proposal required a joint declaration between the Cariforum states and the EC, which was accepted. The President said while both of his proposals were accepted, one of them was altered.
By not signing, Guyana risked facing higher tariffs on its exports with the application of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) according to World Trade Organisation rules. Any country that wishes to receive GSP exemptions next year will have to submit an application to the EC Trade Commission before 31 October, 2008. The current GSP incentive trading arrangement lapses at the end of 2008.
Haiti has asked for time to sign the agreement as its new government has been battling the effects of four consecutive hurricanes that struck the island, leaving little time to consider the Agreement. However, Haiti, which initialled the agreement on December 16, 2007, has until 2010 to sign the agreement. It is covered, at present, as a beneficiary of the EU’s sweeping Everything But Arms initiative.
The EPA allows for reciprocal trading arrangements between the EC countries and Cariforum and it makes provisions for trade in goods and services with a development component, which was also a bone of contention for Guyana.
Carrington, in his address at the ceremony, called for a societal sea change with respect to attitudes and work ethic as the region moves to implement the agreement. He said the EPA has moved the countries of both regions into a reciprocal trade relationship covering – among other things – goods and services, with unspecified financial and technical developmental assistance. Noting that it was a challenging agreement, he said it nevertheless sought “to recognise the new world trade and economic environment including increasing trade liberalisation, compatibility with World Trade Organisation rules, as well as the changing circumstances relating to co-operation between states, especially between developed and developing states.”
The EPA, he said, now demands prudent and effective implementation by all parties and in particular for the EC to ensure the efficient and timely discharge of its undertaking to assist all Cariforum states in meeting the challenges posed by the new relationship. In this regard, he said “the early determination and provision of an equitable share of the Aid for Trade resources will be crucial. Equally important is the commitment of the EC to consider modification to the Agreement as necessary following our joint review taking into account our shared experience in implementation.”
Indispensable
On the part of the Cariforum countries, he said it was critical that they share a common perspective that more integration and co-operation in content and in process is indispensable. “Vital in that context is the need for the region to recognise that there must be a societal sea change in attitude and work ethic leading to a collective effort involving public and private sectors, labour and civil society, all aimed at enhancing our productivity and competitiveness,” he said.
He explained that this is necessary if the region is to be able to compete effectively in the markets of the EC and even in its own domestic markets. Moreover, he added that it is the only way to ensure the people benefit from the new global trading arrangements.
To this end, he calling for the launch of a region-wide drive at all levels, starting from schools and including all sectors of the society. “Who knows, this approach to the implementation of the EPA may yet provide the stimulus and the foundation for the region’s effective insertion into the global economy,” he said.
Also speaking was the EC Vice-President Siim Kallas who assured that the whole EC was committed to making the agreement a success. Kallas said that the new agreement was “transforming a relationship of dependency into a far reaching and comprehensive partnership between equals” and putting the Cariforum region firmly on the map as an expanding market where traders and investors could find innovation, opportunities for growth, and security for their investment.
Stating that the EPA shows that a trade agreement could move from a simple trade in goods to promoting innovation and support broader economic reform, he said that together the renewed partnership could help give the young people of the Caribbean a bright economic future. He said: “At a time of uncertainty in the global economy, of scepticism about the very ability of trade to deliver for development, I believe this agreement sends a powerful message of commitment and of hope.”
He also emphasised that the benefit of trade agreements comes not from negotiating them, but putting them into practice: “That implementation must now begin in earnest if we are to deliver new opportunities for growth and employment. We are at the start of a 25-year process of opening on the CARIFORUM side. We have important cooperation and development finance provisions to put in place. And we must establish a new set of shared institutions to make this EPA work in practice. With the signature of the agreement today we have taken the first step on this journey. The European Union pledges today to continue that journey with you.”
Former Barbados minister of foreign affairs Dame Billie Miller and former Director-General of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery, Ambassador Richard Bernal also spoke. Representatives of the EU President Nicholas Sarkozy and the EC as well as the UK Undersecretary of State for International Development, Gareth Thomas, and Barbados’ Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Business, Donville Inniss attended the ceremony.
