Following a protracted and highly publicised quarrel earlier this year involving trade authorities in Jamaica and Trinidad over the export of Jamaican meat patties to the twin-island state of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), trade and economic ministers of the regional grouping are meeting in Guyana today to discuss the establishment of a Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA).

It emerged that the issue of food safety and the alleged use of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures to block or delay the entry of Jamaican meat and meat products into Trinidad lay at the heart of the impasse that involved Jamaican firm Tastee Limited and elicited sharp rebukes from Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Industry Minister Karl Samuda.

"We have international standards and specification that we adhere to. And, therefore, when we produce a certificate from the Bureau of Standards, we expect it to be respected," Golding told journalists in Jamaica at the time.

"It is really a means of frustrating trade. And that is not something that we can tolerate," the prime minister declared.

Samuda, for his part, at one time sounded warnings of retaliation before trade ministers hammered out an agreement in principle on an approach to fashioning common standards for the 15-member community.

32nd Special Meeting

A CARICOM Secretariat statement said that the one-day 32nd Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) follows the meeting of COTED officials that began on Wednesday.

It noted that the COTED meeting will also examine issues pertaining to sanitary and phyto-sanitary risk assessment and will "evaluate pathways for exotic plant pest movement into and within the greater Caribbean region".

The meeting will also discuss the follow-up activities on the two-day public-private sector consultations on agribusiness that was held in Georgetown, Guyana's capital, in May to enhance the framework for the development of agribusiness in the region.

business@gleanerjm.com