CARICOM Ministers of Trade on Friday met with the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Ambassador Katherine Tai, in Georgetown on Friday and discussed expanding their agenda.
The meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Ramphal House and was co-hosted by Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd, and the Caricom Secretary-General, represented by Assistant Secretary General Ambassador Wayne McCook. Paula Gopie-Scoon, Minister of Trade and Industry of Trinidad and Tobago and current Chairman of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) represented COTED, a release from the Guyana Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
With the aim of boosting the CARICOM-United States bilateral trade and investment relationship, the two sides discussed the longstanding trade and investment Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) and the need to broaden and deepen the scope of the agenda to cover trade in services, trade facilitation, supply chain development, and support for women and youth employment in micro, small and medium-size enterprises (MSMES). In this regard, the release said that they also acknowledged the recent high-level technical engagements under the CARICOM-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) and the Trade and Investment Council (TIC).
The USTR and CARICOM Trade Ministers agreed to consider an early follow-up meeting.
