TT discriminatory?

Jamaica argues that under the non-discriminatory provisions of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, the road map by which Caricom states are creating the CSME, Trinidad and Tobago must supply natural gas to domestic consumers on no better terms than what it would sell to firms in other CSME countries including its own. Trinidad and Tobago however disagrees with Jamaica’s interpretation of the treaty, insisting that national treatment must only apply to firms within its national borders. Last May, Prime Minister Manning told the local media that Jamaica has agreed to negotiate a commercial arrangement for the importation of LNG with Trinidad and Tobago after failing to secure a special pricing arrangement.

“Without prejudice, they have agreed to negotiate a commercial arrangement,” he said at that time. Jamaica also put forward the argument that Trinidad and Tobago is the single largest exporter of manufactured goods to CARICOM countries. “In that context, they felt that LNG would have been a good commodity to which this principle could apply, the option of which would have been a special pricing arrangement,” said Manning. Whether or not there was miscommunication between the two countries, by July during the Heads of Government Summit in Montego Bay, Manning suggested a willingness to explore the preferential sale of LNG to Jamaica and to help that island finance a feasibility study on the proposed transfer from oil to gas.

Jamaica however is holding fast to the position that while the proposals were well intentioned, they did not take into account Trinidad and Tobago’s obligations under the CSME treaty. Jamaica rests its position heavily on the preamble to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas in which member states “resolved to establish conditions which would facilitate access by their nationals to the collective resources of the region on a non-discriminatory basis.”