CAIC hosts trade training sessions

THE CARIBBEAN Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC) recently hosted two back-to-back sessions on services trade negotiations in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, from March 10-13 at the Ambassador Hotel.  The purpose of the sessions was to strengthen participation of the private sector in services trade negotiations currently being held under the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

The workshops formed the primary activities of a CAIC/CIDA-funded project on Services Trade Liberalisation and Expansion, whose purpose was to sensitise and inform Caribbean services providers on relevant issues and the potential impact of the GATS, the FTAA-Services, and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (Services) Protocol; and to provide support for the formulation of trade policy for the CARICOM services sector by establishing policy positions related to the GATS, FTAA-Services, and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. A one-day Train-the-Trainer session was held immediately preceding the regional working session on March 10.  This was targeted at associations and trainers and provided a basic understanding of services exporting and services trade principles as well as the principles that guide services trade negotiations, with a view to buttressing their capability to brief and train private sector firms on services trade negotiation issues.

The regional working session on 11-13 March 2003 involved all participants from the Train-the-Trainer session, as well as government participants, additional private sector participants and representatives of the CARICOM Secretariat and the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery.  In total, 87 persons from 13 countries participated, with 17 from the public sector and 70 being the private sector.   The three-day session was structured to develop specific private sector recommendations on both FTAA and GATS services trade negotiating positions for CARICOM countries.