BARBADOS, Bridgetown (CMC):Caribbean trade negotiators meeting here with their European Union (EU) counterparts said on Friday they were seeking to ensure that the region's vital tourism sector is not disadvantaged in any new trade deal with Europe.
Errol Humphrey, the vice-dean of the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) College of Negotiators, said the regional technical negotiating team is particularly interested in securing a good deal for the tourism industry which is a major foreign exchange earner for many countries in the region.
"We want to make it possible for our tourism providers to compete more effectively in the EU market and we are looking at things such as the anti-competitive practices and those kinds of things that would enable large operators not to dominate the market and decide how things operate.
"We are trying to make it easier to have small operators in the Caribbean to compete more effectively.
"We were among the first to articulate for a development dimension that involves additional resources. It is an ongoing discussion, but the EU has accepted the principle; it is now the quantum of resources that we are taking about," Humphrey told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on the second of three days of talks between the two technical teams.
The Barbados Ambassador to Brussels said the technical negotiators were seeking to advance the positions arrived at in Montego Bay a week ago during a meeting between CARIFORUM heads of government and EU commissioners Peter Mandelson and Louis Michel.
Humphrey said the Barbados talks were aimed at taking forward the talks in the areas of market access, trade-related issues and services.
In responding to critics who levelled charges that negotiators are not pushing hard for a good deal for the region, Humphrey said the future sustainable development of the region is clearly defined in all of their positions.
Give-and-take situation
"Negotiations by definition is a give and take, where you look to see what you can give and what you can get, so obviously we have to make concessions in some areas in order to get things we want in others.
"When you look at the overall package, I think you will have to conclude the regional negotiators are securing things for our region. In fact, other regions have not secured what we have agreed to at this time," Humphrey told CMC.
Europe and its former colonies in the African Caribbean and Pacific states are seeking to craft a new economic partnership agreement by year end to replace the decades-old regime of preferential market access, which have been deemed to be contrary to World Trade Organisation trade rules.
