Gopee-Scoon at CPA workshop

Addressing the opening of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association - World Trade Organisation Parliamentary Workshop on Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, Gopee-Scoon said the other priority issues which TT supports as part of the African Caribbean Pacific grouping include a development-oriented outcome consistent with various recent global commitments and goals, and a permanent solution on public stock holding for food security purposes that satisfactorily addresses the food security concerns of all developing countries.

TT also supports an outcome on a Special Safeguard Mechanism for developing countries that would limit the negative impact of import surges or sharp drops in the prices, and the submissions of proposals that seek to keep special and differential treatment at the core of the negotiations including services negotiations, she said.

With regards to trade facilitation, Gopee- Scoon said she was pleased to indicate that TT was the ninth member state of the WTO to accept the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and the first country in the Caribbean.

The National Trade Facilitation Committee, she said, was fully established and has been operational since March.

TT was also in collaboration with its Caricom colleagues on a coordinated approach to implement the TFA, with assistance from the World Bank.

In terms of the CPAWTO workshop, she said, “One’s responsibility to the environment must not, however, be ignored. This has impacted on how, what and where we trade and necessitated the creation of new rules to treat with the resultant challenges brought about by the new digital economy.” Recognising the digital economy, she said, it was important to address outstanding issues from the “analogue economy,” such as non-tariff barriers, vulnerability to natural disasters, and the characteristic mono- crop and capacity constrained economies, which continue to pose considerable challenges to the Caribbean.

“We cannot wish these issues away and neither should our negotiating partners seek to move on to other areas,” she said.

Noting with concern that in recent times a number of agreements like the trade in services, information technology, and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement, have emerged, she said, “whether or not it is proven to be true that these agreements are a direct response to the failure of multilateralism to deliver, it remains of concern to us because of the potential they have to suppress interest in and progress at the WTO.”