TOWARDS A COMMON POSITION ON SMALL ECONOMIES IN THE FTAA

The Greater Caribbean This Week

By Norman Girvan

Meeting at the headquarters of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) in Port of Spain on September 3-5, 2001, officials and Ministers of Trade in the Greater Caribbean region agreed on a set of recommended principles and measures for special and differential treatment of small economies in the FTAA negotiations, to be submitted for adoption by the 3^rd Summit of the ACS in December.

Some key principles are that the determination of Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) must be made by each negotiating group; for certain subjects SDT may be granted by productive sectors on a case by case basis; and there should be flexibility of implementation so that countries can determine the rhythm and nature of the adjustment process in different topics and sectors. SDT should in no case be less than that contemplated in WTO rules and should be “specific and enforceable”.

The recommended measures include access to technology and trade networks, lower levels of requirements in certain disciplines, longer implementation periods, flexibility in the application of norms, technical assistance and special safeguards to address the peculiar needs of small economies.

The development reflects a growing determination by ACS member countries to use the Association as a vehicle for the coordination of positions in international fora, which is one of its prime objectives. Adoption of a common position on the FTAA will be a significant step in strengthening the geo-political role of the ACS. There could also be a carry-over effect into the WTO negotiations, on which Ministers and senior officials had an exchange of views.

The ACS membership includes 24 of the 34 FTAA negotiating countries, 21 of which could be considered small. At the Buenos Aires FTAA Ministerial Meeting and the Quebec Summit of the Americas earlier this year, specific references were made to the “special needs” of smaller economies and to the need to take “due consideration of differences in size and levels of development of participating countries in the design of the FTAA agreement”. The FTAA’s Trade Negotiating Committee was mandated to have ready guidelines or directives on the question by November 1, 2001.

The ACS recommendations will be forwarded as proposals to the September meetings of the FTAA Consultative Group on Smaller Economies and the FTAA Trade Negotiation Committee (TNC), both of which report to the TNC.

The recommendations came out of a technical meeting convened by the ACS Secretariat and attended by the CARICOM, RNM and the Secretariats of the Central American, Andean Community and OECS groupings, the Latin American Economic System (SELA) and the United Nations ECLAC. They were refined with political input at a Ministerial-level meeting convened by the Chairman of the ACS Trade Committee, Jamaica’s Foreign Trade Minister Anthony Hylton and attended by Ministers or senior officials from 13 other countries. Papers from the meetings will shortly be available on the ACS website www.acs-aec.org.

Left for later resolution were certain key questions: the definition of small economies, the granting of SDT to other categories of countries (such as “less” and “least” developed), and the extent to which SDT could be permanent. These will be the subject of additional technical work and political negotiation. This column will explore the issues in depth as it follows developments in coming months.

Norman Girvan is Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States. Feedback to mail@acs-aec.org