Update on trade policy
AS WE come to the end of 2018, here’s an update on the international trade policy issues involving Jamaica and Caribbean partners: 1. CARICOM/CSME: The Special Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government held in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, December 3-4, adopted the St Ann’s Declaration on the CSME committing to advance the regional integration agenda. They reconstituted the CARICOM Commission on the Economy. It is anticipated that in 2019, concrete steps will be taken by each member state to move the CSME forward. This should include a regional foreign trade agenda and strategy. Jamaica’s chairmanship ends on December 31 but remains chair of the Prime Ministerial Subcommittee on External Trade Negotiations.
2. Brexit and the Caribbean: As the turmoil in Brexit continues in the UK, the Caribbean (Cariforum) is still to approve the rollover agreement with the UK as the Cariforum Council of Ministers Meeting scheduled for November was postponed. If Britain has to move to a hard Brexit, i.e., no agreement with the EU, Cariforum must have a rollover agreement in place by March 2019.
3. ACP-EU post-Cotonou negotiations: Since these negotiations commenced in September, five technical rounds have been held. I read that the African Union (AU) arrived at a common position at their assembly meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 17-18. That position is to maintain the ACP-EU framework in parallel with their EU-Africa mechanism. The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have stated that the post-Cotonou Agreement must address issues of specific concern to them. The EU is clear that the new agreement will be focused on the three separate ACP regions. We are still to hear from Cariforum on its approach to a regional Cariforum/EU negotiation.
FORGING CLOSER RELATIONSHIPS
An interesting development in November, seen on the ACP website, was a meeting between Cariforum and the countries of the Central America Integration System to look at their cooperation with the EU. There has been an ongoing effort to forge a closer relationship between the Caribbean and Latin America in their EU relationship. This is the wider EU/Community of Latin American and Caribbean countries (CELAC) process.
At the 108th ACP Council of Ministers Meeting, the first being held since the start of the post-Cotonou negotiations, it is reported the council looked at the status of these negotiations and the role of the ACP in the current economic environment. The ACP is also reviewing its foundation agreement, the Georgetown Agreement, to define an expanded role for the group.
Recall the desire that ACP/EU Post-Cotonou Negotiations be concluded by July 2019.
4. CARICOM-US relations: As we approach 2019, we must also recall that the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act and the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, which govern trade between the USA and CARICOM countries, will be up for renewal as they expire in September 2020. It is also clear that not much has happened with the implementation of the 2016 USCaribbean Strategic Engagement Act and its 2017 strategy.
As the year ends, in addition, we must recognise that there are a number of other trade-related issues that need continued monitoring: the impact of protectionist measures on trade expansion; the tensions between the USA and China; implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and the outcomes from the G7 and G20 meetings, among others.
We should also remember the organisations that provided support to developing countries, including those in the Caribbean that have recently closed – the Caribbean and Central American Action in Washington, DC, and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) in Geneva. The ICTSD provided valuable support to developing countries. Its closure came as a surprise. We must consider how the gaps will be filled.
Trade makes a vital contribution to this region’s GDP, yet, regrettably, many regional and international trade policy issues that shape Jamaica and CARICOM’s foreign trade policy continue to go under the radar. I am hoping that coverage and public awareness will further improve in 2019. It should not take some dire fallout to bring these issues within sight.