Tuesday | May 23, 2000
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Agreement to assist CARIFORUM
A TECHNICAL agreement to set up a strategic alliance aimed at assisting member-states of the CARIFORUM to more effectively participate in agricultural trade negotiations, was signed yesterday at Jamaica House between the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Regional Negotiation Machinery (RNM).
Witnessing the signing on behalf of the Jamaican Government were Dr Paul Robertson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anthony Hylton, Minister of Foreign Trade.
The agreement which was signed by Sir Alister McIntyre, chief technical adviser, Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery, and Dr. Carlos Aquinos, director general of IICA, establishes the general foundation necessary to strengthen the capacity of the two institutions, while expanding their technical co-operation.
It aims to foster co-operation and collaboration between the RNM and the agricultural negotiating sub-groups of other countries and regional groupings of the hemisphere. This is to facilitate information exchange, training and consensus-building.
According to Mr. Hylton, the move was most welcome "because the matter of agriculture is one of the most challenging faced in any negotiation". He said it was "a most complex area, one with great sensitivity, great emotional and economic implications".
Suva agreement
He told The Gleaner the RNM hoped to sign the so-called Suva agreement in Fiji soon. It sets out the framework agreement between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group.
With negotiations for a post-Lome arrangement set to start in another two years, he said "the work to be done here will contribute greatly to enhancing our bargaining position and capacity for this and current negotiations taking place in the World Trade Organisation".
He noted that yesterday's agreement further strengthened the regional negotiating capacity while building on its human capacity. This, he said, would no doubt "redound to the benefit of CARICOM in general, but Jamaica in particular, given the size of our agricultural sector and its importance in our Gross Domestic Product". He said
this latest move would serve to bring the region closer together in the area of trade, an important step towards Caribbean integration under a Single Market and Economy.
Sir Alister pointed out that in terms of the agreement, IICA would collaborate with the RNM in setting up a small agricultural trade unit which he would co-ordinate. It would operate out of the RNM's Kingston office. However, the physical location of the unit will be in Trinidad to take advantage of the facilities at the UWI's faculty of agriculture, library and databases etc.
The RNM also has offices in London and Barbados, as well as representatives in Geneva, Brussels and Washington. These, according to Sir Alister, "are the principal theatres of operation from the point of view of trade negotiations".
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