Manufacturers Assoc head: CARICOM underperforming

He said CARICOM is the most uncommmon common market.

Dr Ramdeen made the comments while delivering remarks at the opening of a Caribbean Market Mission organised by JAMPRO, the Jamaican trade and investment promotion agency, at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre, St Ann’s. He added that in theory CARICOM was supposed to include free movement of people but this has been repeatedly delayed and today he is not sure whether the community is still discussing free movement.

Dr Ramdeen compared CARICOM to the European Union (EU) and said there is no reason why the regional body cannot advance in the same way as the EU has done.

He said the JAMPRO mission is targeting three countries: Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and The Bahamas, but he said that exporters sending goods into The Bahamas had to pay duties because while The Bahamas is part of CARICOM it is not part of the Common Market regime. He said such issues needed to be sorted out. Regarding the JAMPRO mission, he said the TTMA welcomed competition because Trinidad and Tobago was a consumer society and needed goods to come into this market.

He said the TTMA did not fear competition although the border agencies needed to do their duties. Dr Ramdeen said there was no reason that this country was importing some $5 billion a year in food including a lot of goods from outside the region while some of those products could be sourced from within the Caribbean.

However, he said he was an optimist and saw himself as a CARICOM person. He said the TTMA continued to work with the Government to develop trade and needed Jamaica in order for this country to be a healthy and strong economy and CARICOM to be a healthy and strong economy.

Also speaking at the event was the Jamaican High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago, David Prendergast who lamented that in 2015 Jamaica exported just over US$12 million worth of goods to Trinidad and Tobago and had a “substantial trade deficit of over US$400 million,” a situation the JAMPRO trade mission to this country was hoping to improve. The mission comprises 18 Jamaican firms but only eleven have chosen to visit this country because they see the most promise in this market. He said that, “Over the past five decades, Jamaica and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago have maintained strong bilateral relations as CARICOM sister nations.

The trade links between our two countries have remained extensive, and its continued promotion is important if small economies such as ours are to sustain an upward trajectory towards achieving our long term development goals, realising economic growth and ensuring job creation.” Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Frances Seignoret, said the visit showed the determination of both countries to collaborate on trade and investment matters within CARICOM and said last year’s visit to Jamaica by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and a high powered delegation underscored the importance of co-operation between the two islands, adding that both prime ministers acknowedged the need for improvement in trade relations including the obstructions to free trade and the free movement of goods and services.

He said the prime ministers of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago agreed to work toward a better and stable environment for businesses to thrive, to increase investment flows and to develop mechanisms for closer trade co-operation and the resolution of trade issues. She said the local Trade Ministry was working with its CARICOM partners to advance trade relations in accordance with the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, observing that this involves working with the region’s Common External Tariff within the Revised Treaty to protect and provide a foundation for growth and development for the region’s manufacturing capacity.

Seignoret mentioned the Single Electronic Window (SEW ), an information technology portal which allows all trade related processes to be completed online with one document which is submitted to all the approving agencies with approvals promised within a day or two.

She said that the SEW improves operational efficiency and increases the speed of trade and business transactions.

She said the ministry is also working on an E-Commerce Policy which would set up a framework for the online trade in products and services locally, regionally and internationally.

She said when this is implemented it would lead to the creation of a new and enhanced environment and ensures that business owners, traders and consumers will have the necessary confidence and resources to use the internet to expand into regional and global markets and enhance their revenue.