Latest update January 9th, 2025 4:10 AM
Latest News
- Gov’t fearful of what investigation of lopsided oil contract would reveal- Chris Ram
- Hess hopes govt. 7th oil project will be approved by April
- ‘Ceasefire, captives deal in Gaza ‘very close’—Blinken
- Guyana protests as Venezuela plans to elect governor for Essequibo
- Woman dies while relaxing in car with boyfriend
Caribbean Trade Ministers meet today over out-of–time Free Trade negotiations
Trade Ministers of the Caribbean community (Caricom) are scheduled to meet at the Guyana-based headquarters today to examine favourable resolutions to Caribbean concerns and Canadian demands relating to negotiations on Free Trade agreements ongoing since 2009.
Former Canadian diplomat Francois Montour, left, and Guyanese Prime Minister Sam Hinds during free trade discussions in 2011 (GINA Photo)
Trade Ministers are asking Canadian officials for additional time to wrap up discussions over the trade agreements since they (Canadians) have expressed impatience over the pace of the four-year-old negotiations and indicated willingness to sit with their Caribbean counterparts one more time to deal with the issue.
Caricom officials have stated however that Jamaican Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller who heads the community’s Sub-committee for international trade, has written to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper “in the past two weeks” indicating that one more session as demanded by Ottawa would be insufficient to conclude the negotiations, as the region is asking for more time into the New Year.
The two sides have been negotiating about Free Trade in a bid to replace the one-way agreement under which goods ranging from gold, ethanol, food and shipments of other products enter Canada duty free under the decades-old CaribCan arrangement. This agreement has been cited however as being mismatched with trade liberalization rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The Jamaican Prime Minister’s letter has not been released, but it was noted that the regional negotiating team is currently unprepared to wrap up the trade talks, while governments are still not ready to sign off on any new arrangement.
It has been noticed further the unenthusiastic support for the two way free trade from the smaller island nations of the Eastern Caribbean who say they will hardly benefit from free trade as they have little to export and their markets could be swamped by imported goods from Canada.
The negotiations are said to be high on the agenda as the region awaits a response from Canada.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Jagdeo’s policies were a disaster
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Bharrat Jagdeo’s proclamation of his party’s approach to reducing income inequality... more
Forget Begging Rich Nations: Caribbean Countries Should Act to Save Themselves
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- It has long been evident that the world’s richest nations, especially those responsible... more
Weekend Cartoon
