At OAS-Sponsored Symposium in Jamaica, Assistant Secretary General announces support for Regional Trade Statistics Database
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Organization of American States (OAS) Assistant Secretary General, Albert R. Ramdin, on Monday, June 16 announced an OAS-Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) collaboration to support the development of a Caribbean regional trade statistics database, which can be accessed by government authorities, policy experts, researchers and business leaders.
Addressing a symposium in Kingston, Jamaica, on “Aid for Trade for the Caribbean: Making it a Reality,” Ambassador Ramdin explained that “the availability of accurate and timely trade data is vital for policymakers and business leaders in order to have the best information that can inform the negotiation of trade agreements and facilitate business deals and provide the requisite tools to optimize international trade opportunities.”
Accurate and timely data are a challenge for policy planning in many CARICOM countries, the OAS Assistant Secretary General told the participants, after today’s formal opening of the meeting.
The OAS and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) are jointly hosting the symposium that brings together donors and beneficiaries, to assist Caribbean countries in devising a “roadmap for trade assistance that reflects their unique needs.”
The participants are analyzing among other key topics: Recent trends in aid for trade, the regional dialogue and expectations; Aid for Trade: Scope, aims and objectives—the role of institutional bodies in aid for trade; and Increasing developing countries’ ownership of aid for trade.
The top Caribbean and international trade experts and officials participating at the symposium include Jamaica’s Finance and Public Service Minister Audley Shaw; Barbados’ Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Business, Christopher Sinckler; St. Kitts and Nevis Foreign Affairs Minister Timothy Harris; former Barbados Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dame Billie Miller; Dr. Miguel Rodriguez Mendoza, Senior Fellow at the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development; the World Trade Organization’s Deputy Director General, Valentine Rugwabiza; Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) Director General Richard Bernal; as well as Director of the OAS Department for Trade, Tourism and Competitiveness, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, and senior civil servants, members of the diplomatic corps and the media.
Ambassador Ramdin also called for trade policy reforms to create an enabling environment for business and help countries better participate in the multilateral trading system. Hand in hand with this, he suggested private sector initiatives that would help entrepreneurs and established businesses develop and strengthen the tools and techniques to be competitive. Ramdin said infrastructure should also be developed to create the basic logistics, transportation and telecommunications networks to facilitate trade, economic growth and short- and long-term development.
These are “critical” objectives, especially for the vulnerable Caribbean economies that face such challenges as food and energy security. Such short-term relief measures as subsidies and tax exemptions are inadequate, Ramdin said, arguing for the problems to be better addressed “through structural revitalization of the agricultural sector and the development of alternative energy sources.”
The OAS Assistant Secretary General noted that the hemispheric organization has been proactive in providing focused support for Caribbean member states and has, either on its own or with other institutional donors, engaged in a wide range of activities to foster growth and development, and provide technical and training assistance to governments as well as micro, small and medium sized enterprises. He said this is because democracy, integral development and multidimensional security “cannot be divorced, from each other as they are mutually reinforcing and need to be addressed simultaneously and holistically to create an environment for peace, stability and prosperity in society and the Western Hemisphere as a whole.”
Regional Aid-for-Trade Networks—comprised of key stakeholders such as regional development banks, multilateral institutions and donors—to help countries and sub-regional entities identify priorities, draw up plans and mobilize resources, is central to achieving trade aid objectives. “Aid for Trade is only one part of the equation in addressing the range of socio-economic challenges that confront Caribbean countries, Ramdin declared. “However, it is an important element in helping to empower economic actors to reap the full benefits of globalization.”
On Tuesday, June 17 Ambassador Ramdin will chair another session of the Symposium, discussing “the way forward,” then leaves Jamaica on Wednesday for Kingston, Ontario, in Canada, where he will deliver a keynote address at a Conference on International Security.
