Improving Caribbean trade

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) trade ministers began a two-day meeting with a call for the region to energize its external trade policy and explore opportunities in South America as well as deepen trade and investment relations with the African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Group. Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, who assumed chairmanship of the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), said it was also necessary for the region, which is not “short on visions, orators and great speeches” to ensure it accelerates the implementations of decisions taken to deepen the regional integration movement. “The only direction for the Caribbean Community is forward  – in all respects of the Treaty’s declared promises and common goals. The Caribbean’s history is replete with instances of regional leadership in the global community. We must rediscover the region’s natural instinct to lead and not merely follow. We are small but not insignificant.”She noted that last week, Grenada hosted the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) Stakeholders Consultations on the Future Perspectives of the ACP, a grouping of former European colonies that was “birthed right here in Guyana, the brainchild of the Caribbean, and now seeking to review, reform and reinvent itself in the face of global changes”. She said given the importance of COTED in CARICOM’s development mandate, “cannot afford, and should not be allowed, to operate as business as usual. “We should initiate critical changes here and this special session must not be another nice conversation.  As trade Ministers let us take the tough decisions and commit to the follow through. We owe it to ourselves and the people. “Let us deliver real value for the people’s investment in the one Caribbean project. In this regard, COTED can and should harness the ideas and input of the Caribbean public in its policymaking and implementation process.

Courtesy: www.cananewsonline.com