Following general elections, the Government of The Bahamas will ultimately have to deal with how The Bahamas will respond to international trade issues as a matter of priority, the Bahamas High Commissioner to CARICOM A. Leonard Archer said in a Bahama Journal interview.
The government has shelved any substantial decision on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy [CSME], a local delegation are a part of talks about the Free Trade Area of the Americas [FTAA], and the country is an observer of the World Trade Organization [WTO].
“I suspect that once the election is over, then the next government will have to deal with the issue because the issues that are apart of the CSME WTO FTA are not going to go away,” said Mr. Archer. “We are still involved in international trade and we have to decide and determine what are the best means for The Bahamas to interface with the rest of the world.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell expressed the same sentiment recently, sharing with a delegation of business leaders that eventually the decision will have to be made about how and to what extent The Bahamas wishes to integrate its economy into the world economy.
For the moment, the countryﾒs foreign trade polices are decided on an ad hoc basis, the minister pointed out, meaning that as specific issues arise, “our general protectionist positions are waived to meet the specific circumstances.”
Minister Mitchell announced the governmentﾒs decision last year not to sign on to the CSME but to reserve the decision for a later date. The single market aspect of the Caribbean integration plan came into effect this January.
“So those argumentsﾅwill have to be dealt with at some time and I suspect that they will probably be dealt with in a certain way during the elections and whichever government is elected will have to deal with it as a matter of priority,” Mr. Archer said.
Last year, there was blistering national debate about the pros and cons of the CSME and the wisdom of The Bahamas joining such an arrangement with CARICOM.
The issue was temporarily decided with the Agreement that The Bahamas signed in February at the Inter Sessional Meeting of Heads of Government which allowed the provisions of the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas to enter into force, but with The Bahamas continuing only in the political and specialised Organs of the Community and not the Single Market and Economy arrangements.
The Bahamas is not now a party to any major trade pacts.
Earlier, Mr. Archer had said that it was inevitable for the region to negotiate a free trade agreement with the United States especially as it relates to the duty free imports from the Caribbean region that the U.S. allows under a special economic recovery arrangement. The U.S. has requested from the World Trade Organization an extension of that arrangement until 2008.
The issue was discussed last week at a meeting of Caribbean foreign ministers and the US Trade Representative.
A recent media report stated that negotiation on a CARICOM free trade agreement with the US is awaiting a study being conducted by the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM).
It was also reported that a Caricom-US Trade and Investment Council, proposed some nine years ago, is to be reconfigured.
The basis of Caricom’s interest in a free trade agreement with the US hinges on it being the largest trading partner for the region.
Meantime, a delegation of Caribbean leaders is expected to rail against fastﾖdisappearing preferences for traditional exports such as rum, sugar and bananas during meetings in Spain and Austria this week.
The Caribbean officials and representatives from The Bahamas were expected to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on May 10ﾖ11 at the biennial SpainﾖCaricom summit in Madrid. On May 12ﾖ13, they are scheduled to travel to Vienna, Austria for the European Union summit with Latin American and Caribbean leaders, also held biennially.
By: Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
