Secretary-General Of CARICOM, Dr Barnett Calls For Meaningful Outcomes At The Council Of Trade And Economic Development (COTED)

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – At the opening of the 60th meeting of The Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), Tuesday in Guyana, secretary-general of CARICOM, Dr Carla Barnett, told participants that you are meeting against the background of many trade-related challenges facing the region, and in a geo-political environment which is changing very rapidly.

On the background of US tariffs, the secretary-general of CARICOM, Dr Barnett conveyed that,“The recent tariff shocks are a stark reminder of the need to diversify our trade and economic relations. We must redouble our efforts to deepen existing, and explore new markets and develop new partnerships, if the region is to advance its goals of economic growth and sustainable development.”

“As such”, Dr Barnett advised that“the work to address the way forward in trade relations with the United States; the bilateral negotiations with Colombia; and the outstanding Certification of the Belize-El Salvador Partial Scope Agreement, must be given focused attention.
Equally, we need to promote regional production and expand intra-regional trade by updating policies and practices to support entrepreneurship and make trade and business development easier. We also have an imperative to address the impediments to trade and remove longstanding issues of“non-compliance” from the agenda.”

With regards to the Regional Industrial Policy, the secretary-general said,“will be presented to you at this session. This Policy can become an important aspect of the deepening of the regional integration strategy going forward, and I urge you to give focused attention as to how it will be finalised and implemented.”

Secretary-General of CARICOM, Dr Barnett further recommended that“ the region also needs to more efficiently harness the competencies of our Regional Institutions and work more effectively together to advance the work of the Community. Time is too short, and resources are too scarce for us to continue to work in silos when collaboration and joint effort can save resources, both human and financial, and deliver better results.”

The Secretariat continues to seek to work collaboratively with our stakeholders, and [we] will see this when the Secretariat team reports on work alongside partners like the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO), on critical research and analysis on trade challenges.

The publicly recognise the work done with the CPSO on issues of trade advocacy, particularly with respect to the America First Trade Policy and related actions against certain shipping and maritime interests.

Relevant to the COTED these is the urgency of advancing the completion, and implementation of the revised Common External Tariff and the Community's Rules of Origin Regime, says Dr Barnett.“I urge this COTED to make full use of the Treaty's rules and flexibilities as it addresses the matters before it, especially the most sensitive ... and through robust discussion and engagement, [that] there will be meaningful outcomes from this sixtieth meeting of the Council ...”

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