CARIFORUM talks trade

by Marlon Madden

Trade between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the European Union (EU) remains a top priority, officials from the EU Commission have assured.

However, they continue to be concerned that Barbados and other regional states are not taking full advantage of existing trade policies including the Economic Partnership Agreement, which was implemented over 13 years ago.

This was expressed by Brian Glynn, the EU’s Managing Director for the Americas in the European External Action Service, at the end of a visit to Barbados, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and meeting with representatives from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) last week.

He noted that while key areas such as human development, security, climate change and economic growth were discussed, the issue of trade was identified as a key pillar.

“On trade we did have discussions with all three prime ministers about the Economic Partnership Agreement with CARIFORUM and there was a common message that it hadn’t delivered as much as they expected in terms of increased trade,” said Glynn.

“Even though there is tariff free access the production capacity in the countries haven’t increase to match the opportunities that are available, and we don’t currently have a political dialogue forum with CARICOM because the agreement hasn’t been fully ratified, but I do think we need to find a way to have that discussion with the countries to see first of all what their concerns are on the full regional level, and see if there is a way we can use the tools we have available to us, which is often about providing advice to countries to get the best out of these agreements to see if they can be improved,” he explained.

The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which was signed in October 2008 between CARIFORUM and the EU, allows for favourable market access of goods and services and investment opportunities from the region into the markets of EU member states. It also makes provision for greater cultural cooperation.

However, there have been ongoing complaints that the region was simply not taking full advantage of the provisions in the agreement.

Glynn acknowledged that a slowdown in tourism over the past two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, also impacted trade between the two economic blocs in recent times, but said he was hopeful that as the tourism industry rebounds so too would bilateral trade.

“On the whole, relationship under COVID where tourism from Europe would have been a significant part of the exchange in both directions, that fell off a cliff for a particular period of time and we are encouraged by the fact that tourism is starting to come back as well as the anchor of this,” said Glynn.

“There is of course, a lot of European investment in the tourism industry not just in the region but particularly here in Barbados, and as that picks up as well, I anticipate there will be greater interest on the European side on that front, but also we do need to have that conversation about what it is about the Economic Partnership Agreement that we can make better,” he stressed.

Pointing to the importance of maintaining visits to the Caribbean, Glynn said the latest mission was a clear reminder that COVID “has an impact at the personal level but also on inter-state relations”, while explaining that during the height of the pandemic countries were more focused on keeping their population safe.

“We have been maintaining links with colleagues but mostly virtually and the conclusion is that there is no substitute for the kind of visits that we have made when it comes to understanding partners’ concerns and providing an update on things that might not necessarily be at the top of the list of countries here,” he said.

Myriam Ferran, Deputy Director General for International Partnerships, also stressed the importance of maintaining a strong bilateral relationship between the two regions, saying this was necessary to aid the Caribbean’s continued economic and social development.

“Even though further geographically, the bilateral cooperation between the EU and the Caribbean region in general and Barbados in particular, is very important for us and the objective of the visit was to explain where we stood within the European Union in preparation of our policy dialogues and future financial cooperation, knowing all the changes that up to the legal framework that we have to discuss,” said Ferran.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb