The 11th UK/Caribbean Forum
THIS IS an important week for Jamaica. UN Secretary General António Guterres was here on a working visit on Monday meeting with Prime Minister Andrew Holness. As chair of the CARICOM Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR), Jamaica will be hosting its 26th meeting, which commenced on Tuesday, May 16. This will be the first in-person gathering since COVID-19 started in 2020. With regional foreign ministers gathering here, the opportunity was also taken to host the 11th UK/Caribbean Forum on Thursday, May 18, and the UK/Jamaica Strategic Dialogue thereafter.
Following on from my article last week, I will focus on the UK/Caribbean Forum which will be co-chaired by Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, and the UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Hon James Cleverly. I am assuming that David Rutley, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Americas and the Caribbean, will accompany Foreign Secretary Cleverly.
In 2020, Darren Henry, MP, was appointed Special Trade Envoy for the Caribbean. It is not evident that he still holds this post with all the Cabinet reshuffles and change of prime ministers.
The agenda of the 10th meeting in 2021 included prosperity and sustainable development, climate change and environment, shared values, protecting our people, really security matters.
TRADE RELATIONS
Falling under prosperity and sustainable development was trade and commercial relations. With the UK leaving the European Union (EU), the original Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic, now applies only to the EU27. This EPA was in the news last week as the phased market access implementation for the EU27 has run its course. Trade between the Caribbean (CARIFORUM) and the EU27 is now on a reciprocal basis. CARIFORUM now has a similar type of agreement with the UK. I assume that a representative of the Department of Business and Trade will also be in the UK Delegation.
Increasing exports is a priority for the UK as it should be for the CARIFORUM countries.
The 2021 Plan of Action in trade and commercial relations called for the following actions:
1. Ratification of the CARIFORUM/EU EPA by all parties;
2. Ensuring continuation of duty-free/ quota free market access for Caribbean goods;
3. Establishing the institutions of the Agreement. The first meeting of the CARIFORUM-UK EPA Joint Ministerial Council and the Trade and Development Committee should be held;
4. Establishing a UK/Caribbean business to business council;
5. Identifying opportunities for using export credit financing through UK export finance;
6. The Special Trade Envoy should visit the region to promote two-way trade. The aim should be to promote and expand EU/ Caribbean trade flows; and
7. Working to reduce any existing barriers to trade.
At this point, it is not clear what portion of this action plan has been implemented given all the upheavals in the UK since 2021.
CARICOM goods exports to the UK had declined, but, in 2022, exports, which seem to be mostly fuel oil, to the UK has increased being valued at an estimated US$1.5 billion. UK goods exports to CARICOM, in 2022, is given as an estimated US$591.2 million. The UK’s imports from Jamaica in 2022 were valued at US$77 million and exports at US$57 million. The CARICOM services exports remain primarily in tourism.
Discussions on trade must be focused on implementing this EPA and promoting trade and investment to the benefit of both parties.
OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
I expect that they will be discussing development assistance. The UK has reduced its overseas development assistance (ODA) from the UN specified 0.7 per cent of GDP to 0.5 per cent from 2021. So, UK ODA has generally declined to recipients.
It is interesting to note that, until 2029, the UK will still be contributing to the EU’s European Development Fund (EDF), from which funding flowed to the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and its member states under the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. The EU has phased out the EDF which was in its 11th cycle and funding to the OACPS will come from general EU ODA – Global Europe funding.
In January 2021, the UK committed to maintain funding to the Caribbean Development Bank’s Special Development Fund, pledging up to £21m over four years to continue supporting specific projects in the Caribbean. It seems that the UK’s focus in the Caribbean will be on the vulnerabilities of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) as it relates to development and climate change.
It appears from the available data that from 2009-2021, Jamaica has received about £89 million in UK ODA. The region overall received about £898.2 million with a significant portion allocated at the regional level. Some CARICOM countries are not eligible to receive ODA due to their high income status.
So, it will be interesting to see how Foreign Minister Cleverly will be received on what I assume could be his first visit to Jamaica, and what the outcome of this UK/ Caribbean Forum will be.