The Bahamas could have gained membership into the global trade regulatory body as far back as 1996 saving the country hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the Minister of Trade and Industry Leslie Miller.
Now, the government is planning to make its initial presentation for membership into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) perhaps as early as January 2003,
Mr. Miller was speaking at the National Seminar on Customs Valuation.
“The Bahamas had many opportunities to join the WTO for nothing,” Minister Miller said. “It will probably cost The Bahamas some 3 to 5 million dollars before this exercise is complete with FTAA,” he said.
He said the government had already spent in excess of one million dollars preparing to join WTO and several more millions will have to be spent in order to ready the country for membership in that organisation as well as the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
“It would have cost us some 153,000 then. It’s now going to cost us some two million dollars to join the WTO,” he said. According to a source at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, around 1995, the Bahamas by virtue of its membership in the Commonwealth was automatically entitled to observer status to the WTO.
But The Bahamas did not obtain that status until 2001.
Mr. Miller echoed a statement he made a few weeks ago regarding the FTAA assuring that the government would not sign the FTAA agreement is it is not in the best interest of the Bahamian people.
Customs valuation is one of the key issues in the WTO agreement and the seminar is expected to examine valuation codes. This will include learning the valuation codes used by the 144 member countries of the WTO and compare the similarities and differences used by The Bahamas.
The seminar continues at the Nassau Beach Hotel until Friday and is sponsored by the World Trade Organization and the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The seminar’s facilitator is Sheri Rosenow, a Customs specialist with the WTO in Geneva, Switzerland.
By Julian Reid, The Bahama Journal
