Caribbean agriculturalists must protect their trades from international organisations that aim to liberalise trade within large trading blocs, according to agricultural specialist Godfrey Eneas.
Agriculture specialist and Deputy Chairman at the Bahamas Agriculture and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) Godfrey Eneas issued this warning during a speech to the Rotary Club of New Providence.
Trade groups such as the Free Trade Area of The Americas (FTAA) that are designed to reduce barriers to trade among member territories can have harmful consequences on small economies like CARICOM countries, said Mr. Eneas, who addressed a recent meeting of the Rotary Club of New Providence at Superclubs Breezes.
Mr. Eneas cited the recent experience of banana farmers in the region.
“The European Union established and funds the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States,” Mr. Eneas said. “The former European colonial masters in order to protect their interests in these former colonies gave British companies, French companies, Dutch companies access to the European Union market on a preferential basis thereby guaranteeing a market for certain products.”
This arrangement was beneficial to eastern Caribbean banana exporting countries like St. Lucia and St. Vincent, however some American companies expressed dissatisfaction with that trade agreement, according to Mr. Eneas.
American companies like United Fruit Company in Central America said that the Europeans were discriminating against them as Central American bananas were not getting the same preferential treatment as Caribbean bananas.
Some of these American banana companies took their case to the Dispute Settlements Committee of the WTO and received a ruling in their favour.
“It is this component of the WTO which has destabilised Caribbean agriculture,” Mr. Eneas said.
Agricultural trade within the WTO is regulated by an agreement known as the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA). Countries that feel other members of the WTO have violated the AOA can raise a dispute to be settled by the Dispute Settlements Committee.
Small economies like those of CARICOM countries have negotiated for preferential treatment in FTAA negotiations.
The sensitivity list defines products that countries wish to be excluded from the FTAA.
The agricultural industry requires that it be included as an industry excluded from the FTAA, Mr. Eneas said, because “the sensitive nature of the industry makes it larger than trade.”
By Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
