Later, still animated after an intense two hour discussion on trade agreements Monday night, Ms Francis told The Guardian that this was the third meeting on FTAA she has attended, a task she considers her responsibility as a citizen.
“I think every Bahamian should be a concerned citizen as to what’s going on especially in the international arena that could affect us,” she said. “Myself being a business person I think it’s very important that I educate myself and keep abreast of what’s going on.” Ms Francis has worked as a cosmetologist and a manager of a beauty salon for the last five years.
Expanding on the issues within the proposed FTAA agreement, that initially peaked her interest, Ms Francis explained that in the beginning she was concerned over the clause that allowed the free movement of people. Now, she continued, while this was still a concern for her, she was also looking at the opportunities this reality could present for her in the future. “I look at it to find out if there is any advantages for learning more about my trade or even something I may be interested in later on,” she said.
If the proposed FTAA agreement is successful, it will see the formation of the world’s largest trading bloc comprising of the 34 countries of the Western Hemisphere excluding Cuba and the creation of a market of close to 800 million consumers.
Despite the possible negative implications such a liberalised trading regime could present for small economies like The Bahamas, Ms. Francis has an unmoving faith in the Bahamians elected to represent the country in the various trade liberalisation initiatives.
“I trust them, I definitely do,” she said. “Most of our leaders are very wise and very knowledgeable. I trust that they’re going to be cautious and careful in the decision making process and how far they go also in negotiating for us.”
She continued that her confidence in the Bahamian negotiators stemmed from her confidence that “when it comes to The Bahamas, I think we’ve always been somewhat protective of ourselves. We’ve not been too open-handed or too easy to expose our selves to anybody – especially if they’re bigger.”
Banker Andrew Strachan also attended the town meeting on Monday, which saw a wide cross-section of participants from government officials to students.
A portfolio manager at Bank Leu, a Swiss based bank, Mr Strachan also professed to frequent attendance of meetings on trade liberalisation. He explained that his formal training in economic has made him and avid follower.
“Its an interesting topic,” he exclaimed. “It’s a trade agreement (and) there’s a timetable set, so whenever there is a public meeting, whenever I can make it and today was one of those days.”
As an employee in the offshore financial sector, Mr Strachan confessed that he did not see trading arrangements like the FTAA bringing much changes to his area of work. “We compete fully already so it won’t necessarily have a major impact on us,” he said. “We already deal with foreign clients and we compete internationally. So its not a major issue at this point.”
While he does not see trade liberalisation bringing drastic changes to his area of work, the investment banker predicted opportunities for himself as a consumer. He explained that a more open trade environment could mean more foreign companies entering the Bahamian market like Wal-Mart or Home Depot, which for him could spell lower prices.
“There could be additional benefits to The Bahamas, but policy makers have to sit down and weigh the pros and the cons and conduct a study weighing the benefits and disadvantages,” Mr Strachan said.
The desire of these Bahamian professionals to learn more about a process that to many may seem like a distant possibility may be a foreshadowing of an alternate reality as the expert presenter at the town meeting suggested that the road to FTAA was still very much intact. Recent events in 2003 which led to a break down in talks among the 34 countries participating in the FTAA has seen local government officials becoming sceptical on a proposed 2005 implementation date. This scepticism has led to a close to 50 per cent cut in the budget for The Bahamas Trade Commission.
The featured trade expert at the town meeting, Thomas O’Keefe suggested that current events suggest that the roadblocks of 2003 may be on their way to being fully resolved. If this should occur Mr O’Keefe continued, the 2005 deadline could be in the middle of the year as opposed to the beginning.
The impasse arrived at by FTAA officials was a result of the United States unwillingness to discuss agricultural subsidies and the reform of unfair trade practices like anti-dumping at the FTAA level. They preferred instead to deal with these issues in World Trade Organisation (WTO) discussions.
According to Mr O’Keefe, who is currently the president of the Mercosur Consulting group, and former lecturer on International Affairs at George Washington University, this rigid position by the United States in these two issues ignited the ire of the members of the Mercosur group.
“The response of the Mercosur countries for whom these two issues are extremely important in terms of access to the U.S. markets was okay fine… these are two very important issues for us in fact they determine whether its even worthwhile for us to participate in the FTAA or not and they are so important that if you’re not willing to discuss that, we’re not willing to discuss investment, services, government procurement and intellectual property,” the trade expert explained. This he continued led to the breakdown in talks that exist presently.
Mr O’Keefe revealed however that this situation might be closer to being resolved as the imminent European summer break has placed some urgency on resolving certain issues by the end of this month. Once the European Commission returns, it is expected that a new commissioner will be elected.
The Trade expert explained to the group that two of the issues that could be resolved by the end of the month are agricultural subsidies at the WTO level and an arrangement being struck between the Mercosur countries and the European Union on services, investment and government procurement.
“The Mercosur has made a concession it’s willing to forego the agricultural subsidies issue in return for increased market access into the EU. But the EU is offering that only if it can get also from Mercosur certain concessions on services, investment, government procurement.” If this should occur, the firm position against the United States held by this group could be undermined, Mr O’Keefe said.
This he continued would solve all the issues facing FTAA except the United States’ position on anti dumping, which he feels will be addressed after the U.S. elections. “So if all these things fall into place I think it is possible we’ll conclude the FTAA somewhere in the middle of 2005.”
By MARTELLA MATTHEWS,Guardian Business
