Time for EU/Caribbean talks - Harborne

BRITISH High Commissioner Peter Harborne said yesterday the region needs to place as much emphasis on Europe as it is doing with the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Harborne was speaking at the Ambassadors Forum held by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce at its headquarters. “You’re up and running with FTAA, you’re up and running with WTO. It’s about time you get up and running on economic partnership agreements with the European Union,” Harborne said. The Cotonou Agreement, which governs the relationship between the Caribbean and Europe, still has to be negotiated. The agreement covers trade as well as development assistance, while FTAA and WTO deal only with trade. Harborne said the region could gain a lot from the agreement but needs to double its efforts. US Ambassador Roy Austin also said trade negotiations were a concern for the US, which will be implementing a capacity building programme for negotiations in the region. “A tough negotiation partner is much better than none at all,” Austin said.

Austin said the business relationship between the US and Trinidad and Tobago is “excellent” and the relationship probably played in a part in this country’s credit rating upgrade last week. Austin said there are a few concerns. The US Government is “bothered” about statements on local content and work permits for expatriates, but added, “These are the sort of disagreements for which reasonable friends come to a mutual understanding.” Local content issues arise mainly in the energy sector and over the past few months Government has expressed its own concern about the level of local content in the sector.