Jamaica is reportedly urging its micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME’s) to take advantage of the opportunities being created to enable them to tap into openings which the state-run entity has created for them, thus broadening their access to external markets by taking advantage of prospects that are presenting themselves under various preferential trade agreements to which Jamaica is a party.
Over the years, Jamaica has distinguished itself among member countries of CARICOM for aggressively seeking out opportunities, outside the region, for locally produced goods to secure high visibility on the international market. The country’s success in this regard, an article in the May 24 issue of The Observer says, has been due, largely, to the role which the Jamaica Trade Board (JTB) has played “as the certifying authority for goods exported under the various trade agreements.” The JTB also has responsibility for the monitoring compliance by would-be exporters with the requirements demanded of exports by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in terms of export and import licenses.
The Observer report alluded to a recent Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) forum during which attendees received information on the various trade agreements which Jamaican businesses can take advantage of. News of the critical role which the JTB plays in opening up pathways through which the country can take advantage of export opportunities will not be lost to the rest of region where increasing entrepreneurial pursuits in agriculture and agro-processing have not been matched by successful efforts to increase international market share. Here in the Caribbean, opportunities for intra-regional market expansion are limited, the current standout one being the annual opportunity afforded Guyanese farmers and agro processors through the Barbados Agro Fest.
While there are other opportunities afforded by events like the annual Florida Trade Fair event, official support for participation therein has been limited. By contrast, according to the Jamaica Observer report, Jamaica’s agreements facilitates market access for goods produced by the country’s MSME’s that “include a number of preferential trade arrangements,” which “provide access for local entrepreneurs to engage in cross-border transactions with a number of countries globally.” Some of these, the Observer report says, “include the United States under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA)/ Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI); the European Union under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA); CARIFORUM through the UK EPA; Canada under CARIBCAN; as well as some CARICOM agreements which facilitate trade across approximately 13 English-speaking Caribbean countries.”
The Observer report cites a reference by JTB Client Relations Manager, Sharisa Buckle, to the United States’ trade preference programme, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which provides opportunities for some of the world’s poorest countries to leverage trade with the United States to grow their economies. The Observer’s citing of Jamaica’s success in taking advantage of the preferential openings that the country enjoys with the rest of the international community, raises questions over an ongoing controversy in what is felt to be a largely weak and ineffective official international lobby to cause Guyana’s agro produce, particularly, to become fixtures on the international market.
While the lack of effectiveness in this regard has been attributed to the failure of some local products to meet phyto sanitary and other quality criteria for ‘making’ the shelves in countries with large markets, the view has long been held that the relatively low success which Guyana has realized in terms of market access for agro produce and other locally manufactured goods, has been due to the indifference of the government to aggressively promote local goods. While the Government of Guyana helped to meet the costs associated with the participation of a limited number of product producers to the Barbados Agro Fest event earlier this year, local agro processors and craft producers, on the whole, continue to criticize what they say is the paucity of support provided by government for overseas product promotion despite what is now widely believed to be the ability of the country to “do more,” given the country’s oil-driven improving ability to do so.
The JTB has cited various products including rum, canned callaloo, ackee, body lotions, water, black castor oil, baked goods, seasoning, ketchup, spices, pepper sauces, crackers and biscuits, (the vast majority of which are either produced or can be produced in Guyana) as being among those products that can be “readily exported to several countries around the world duty-free under the provisions of about eleven (11) of the available trade agreements to which Jamaica has signed.” The trade agreements which largely assist local importers and exporters with securing improved access for goods and services in contracting states also often reduce some of the trade barriers existing in those markets.
