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CARIBBEAN-CENTRAL AMERICA TRADEThe Greater Caribbean This Week Norman Girvan On October 24 delegations from CARICOM and Costa Rica concluded the first round of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement. The meeting was held at the Association of Caribbean States headquarters in Port of Spain. Progress was made in settling the framework approach to the FTA, the sequencing of the phase-out of tariffs and non-tariff restrictions and the approach to rules of origin. The next meeting will be held in December and will deal with implementation issues. |
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In 2001 Costa Rica had signed a draft FTA with Trinidad and Tobago. But then it was decided that the agreement would be with the whole of CARICOM, with last year's draft serving as the basic working document. The successful conclusion of last week's meeting is another sign of the growing interest in trade between CARICOM and Central American countries. In late September, the 3rd ACS Business Forum of the Greater Caribbean attracted great interest from businesspersons in the Caribbean islands, led by Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba.
Conference organisers set up a total of 767 business meetings involving 409 participants representing 302 firms. Industrial and commercial enterprises predominated (180 firms), with 38 service enterprises in attendance. Costa
Rica and Trinidad and Tobago are the leading exporters of non-traditional
goods in their respective sub-regions, so it is natural these two countries
should lead the free trade initiative. But the potential for expanded
trade extends to the two sub-regions as a whole.. From 1998 to 2000
total CARICOM -Central America trade grew from US$197 million to US$309
million, with a slight contraction in 2001. US$ Million
Source: ACS data base A CARICOM -Central American FTA has been on the cards for some time and the CARICOM -Costa Rica agreement could be seen as a stepping-stone towards this. If the current negotiations continue on the present track an agreement could be sealed early in 2003 and come into effect by the end of that year. By that time Costa Rica should have become part of the wider Central American Customs Union targeted for the beginning of 2004, facilitating the extension of the CARICOM -Costa Rica FTA to Central America as a whole. What began as a
bilateral initiative could prove to be the catalyst for an FTA between
two of the principal sub-regions of the Greater Caribbean. Professor
Norman Girvan is Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States.
The views expressed are not necessarily the official views of the ACS.
Feedback can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org. (ends) October 26, 2002
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