OECS looking at treaty with the WTO

New trade facilitation project launched to help the eastern Caribbean prepare for World Trade Organisation negotiations.

CASTRIES, St Lucia, Thursday, August 23, 2012 - A new project designed to assist Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) members negotiate and implement trade facilitation agreements has been launched in Saint Lucia.

A communiqué from the OECS Secretariat stated that the goal of the project is to facilitates a future treaty with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) simplify and harmonize trade rules within the OECS, boost proficiency in business meets and shrink trading delays while studying tariff payment alternatives, data accessing and socio-economic and political coop. and aid among clients and with other partners.

The project was launched during a trade facilitation workshop held between August 21 and 22, in collaboration with the United Nations’ Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) through its multi-donor trust fund.

Organisers noted that trade facilitation negotiations at the WTO level was one area in which OECS member states stood to benefit significantly as reform could result in increased efficiency by reducing delays in the clearance of goods which could also be more cost effective for consumers.

The workshop participants, including trade and customs officials, reviewed the state of WTO negotiations on trade facilitation and discussed the project tools, outputs and stakeholder involvement. The workshop also sought to identify OECS interests and concerns, in the context of the establishment of the OECS Economic Union and identify regional approaches to implementation.

The workshop and project will be followed by National Missions to the OECS-WTO member states – Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)