By Lesroy W. Williams Observer Reporter
(Basseterre, St. Kitts)”The World Trade Organization in collaboration with the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development and Her Majesty’s Customs in the UK convened a seminar for St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to assess their own needs as it relates to trade facilitation within the context of the Doha Round of Negotiations. The conference was held at the Ocean Terrace Inn Conference Room.”” The seminar, which started on December 1 with an opening ceremony and concluded on December 5, was designed to use the assessment of the participating countries to negotiate more effectively, especially in the areas of technical assistance and special and differential treatment. Counsellor on Trade and Finance at the WTO, Sheri Rosenow said that “for the first time ever the implementation of the final results in the final trade agreement would be directly linked to the capacity in each country and DOHA members have pledged to provide technical assistance to help the countries develop capacity and be able to implement each measure.” Minister of Finance, International Trade, Industry, Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Dr. Timothy Harris, who gave the opening address, said that trade agreements must work to the benefit of the ordinary person. “I want to put bluntly and upfront that ordinary people everywhere in our region are still waiting to be persuaded that all our many engagements in trade negotiations whether under the rubric of the CSME, EPA or WTO will crystallize into a better quality of life for them. This is their litmus test. Their skepticism may be a result of many deficiencies on our part,” Dr. Harris said. Two of the deficiencies he outlined are a communication deficit and an implementation deficit. He said that the communication deficit is demonstrated in our tendency to over intellectualize in black box and green box distantly removed from the daily struggles of ordinary people wanting affordable prices for goods. “We must say for example, how do transparency and predictability at our Port and Customs will improve the life for our people,” he said The implementation deficit is seen in the many agreements that have been signed and lay in abeyance for want of the heavy resources in time and manpower including expertise and finance to implement them and in so doing bring the benefits into being, Dr. Harris said. “The WTO must be aware that trade expansion does not come by osmosis and it must help shape the international environment that makes it possible for all its members to grow and achieve,” he said. Senior Technical Attach” at the OECS Technical Mission in Geneva, Switzerland, Mr. Stephen Fevrier, said that ‘there has been an historic tendency to offer a top down approach to technical assistance where some far off and removed organization prescribes what your needs are or should be. This week’s activity attempts to provide the participating OECS states the opportunity to assess their own needs.” Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of International Trade, Industry, Commerce, and Consumer Affairs, H.E. Ambassador Roslyn Hazelle, chaired the opening ceremony. The participants at the seminar represented several sectors of the society including ports, Customs, Law Enforcement, Veterinary Services, Bureau of Standards, Finance, Trade and Infrastructure. Alicia Stephen represented the OECS Secretariat and Michelle Lowe represented the Caricom Regional Negotiating Machinery.
