TT pledges US$11M to regional fund

Addressing a news conference at Knowsley Building in Port-of-Spain yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift said last week’s Caricom Heads of Government summit in Barbados determined that the larger member states (such as TT, Jamaica and Barbados) are ready to implement the CSM, which is the first phase of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

Gift said in order to assist the smaller Caricom nations (particularly the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) to participate in the CSM from January, Caricom leaders agreed to the establishment of an RDF and Caricom finance ministers are currently working out the logistics in Kingston, Jamaica.

Gift said TT has made its position on the RDF clear through the provision of US$11 million to trigger the fund, and Caricom finance ministers will devise the best way in which all member states would meet the RDF’s obligations. He added that all regional finance ministers were asked to "come with numbers" to Kingston in order to best determine how the fund would work. Gift said there was "a sense of urgency" by all Caricom states in Barbados to ensure that the RDF is functioning and that the CSM kicks off the new year without a hitch.

About the ongoing deliberations in Hong Kong, Gift said the WTO ministerial conference was discussed by Caricom leaders in Bridgetown last week.

The minister said Caricom holds fast to the position that "the development aspect of trade" must not be overlooked in Hong Kong since this is critical to the trade policies of its member nations. Gift said while there was a feeling that "not much" will come out of the Hong Kong conference, Caricom remains optimistic that this meeting would lay the foundation for a follow-up meeting in February 2006 where serious negotiations could begin.

Trade and Industry Minister Ken Valley is representing TT in Hong Kong.

Gift said there has been some movement by the United States and Europe on the vexatious issue of agriculture, and this was evident in talks about the Hong Kong conference held between British prime minister Tony Blair and Caricom leaders in London before the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in Malta from November 23 to 27. However, Gift indicated that by the time Commonwealth leaders met in Malta, there was "some reneging" on issues discussed in London. The minister hoped that this would not happen at the WTO conference which ends on December 18.