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Caribbean needs a strategy to increase exports

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by Marlon Madden

Leaders in Barbados and other Caribbean states are being urged to quickly come up with a more innovative, targeted and strategic approach to increase exports of locally produced goods and services.

This challenge has been thrown out by Services Specialist with the Caribbean Export Development Agency Allyson Francis, who said in recent times her organisation has been focused on boosting the region’s export of services.

Pointing out that there were linkages between all sectors that needed to be deepened, Francis said the region must take action in several areas including greater use of technology, in an effort to keep up with the competition globally.

“So many lives have been impacted by this COVID and we don’t want to fall back to a pre-2020, but to look ahead. I think a large dimension of that is the digitalisation and digitisation, rethinking how we look at business and we look at our whole development process,” said Francis.

She said capacity building of Caribbean firms was necessary for there to be an increase in the export their goods and services.

“A very critical element is the issue of quality. For trade, if you are talking about increasing exports in trade a very important factor in that is your quality and standards,” she said.

“From a Caribbean Export standpoint . . . what we see necessary for us to increase exports is that we have to be more strategic in our thinking, we have to be more innovative and more creative in the way we approach what development is and what our product development relates to,” she explained.

She singled out the manufacturing, agriculture and tourism sectors as those to begin with, adding that close attention must also be given to that of transportation and distribution, research and development and marketing and branding.

Francis was addressing students of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania during a recent interactive session, which was organised by Barbados Trek to explore areas of opportunity for tourism and trade.

She said there were three main pillars within Caribbean Export’s strategic plan designed to help regional firms become export ready – export promotion, investment and a focus on services “as the next frontier”.

“In terms of export promotion, we have to look at our manufacturing capacity. Where are we in the Caribbean, where are we in Barbados with our manufacturing capacity? And we have to work with Export Barbados (BIDC) to prioritise the sectors that we need to work on, the sectors that respond to tourism, the sectors that respond to us moving beyond provision of what our domestic market demands but can go to the next level for export,” she explained.

She said the Caribbean Export was also carrying out work in the creative sector that would allow for greater use of technology.

“We have to be very targeted and strategic to get the sort of results that are necessary to help with that development plan and help with the transforming of lives and building of resilience so that we can respond to the development needs of the national member states,” she said.

Francis said Caribbean Export was also keen on helping regional states reduce their food import bills by helping firms to build production capacity while adhering to the highest international quality and standards.

“So our focus at Caribbean Export has been to look at our three pillars and to see how they are intricately intertwined because I can’t speak to services separate without speaking to goods and we can’t speak of the development of the goods and manufacturing sector without speaking to our services sector . . . We have to take a more holistic approach,” she explained.

Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Sandra Husbands acknowledged that the goods offered by Barbados to the export market was somewhat “narrow” and needed to be expanded.

She also agreed that the island has been missing out on “a lot of opportunities because we have not been able to look at what are our strategic best interest in every arena where we are”. What is more, Husbands said the issue of imports should also be addressed to allow for increased trade between Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states.

She explained that while CARICOM had the opportunity to produce up to 75 per cent of some products that it needed, the region continued to import billions of dollars worth of those same items.

“What is happening in the region is that we are importing into the region over US$3 billion worth of goods that we already produce, but we choose instead to buy them from outside. Now that is a travesty. This is something we are working on as a region,” she said.

She said the issue would be discussed at the next Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) meeting, as the region examine “how can we transform the way in which our enterprises act and behave, how can we transform the platform on which they have to operate to make sure that those platforms are conducive to them trading, and how can we make changes to our common exchange tariff and make changes to our rules of origin to enable more regional demand for goods”.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb

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