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Contact:
Julita Peter
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - The Ministry of Commerce, Tourism, Investment
and Consumer Affairs has embarked on an initiative geared towards repositioning
its internal capabilities in order to deliver a more effective and efficient
service to its customers. In addition to its education and outreach program on
Consumer Rights and responsibilities, the ministry will be concentrating on
pertinent external trade-related issues such as the Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA), and World Trade Organisation (WTO), among others.
The first in the series of educational programmes took the form of a public
forum at the NIC Conference Centre on Monday March 15th 2004, where
representatives of a cross section of the public were invited to share in a
panel discussion on “The FTAA and Consumers.”
Moday’s panel comprised Mc. Donald Dixon, Trade Advisor in the Ministry of
Commerce; Businessman, Guy Mayers; External Trade Advisor in the Ministry of
External Affairs, Calixte Leon; and Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizens/
Global Trade Watch based in the USA.
The Ministry’s Deputy Permanent Secretary, Alison Jean says the Ministry of
Commerce views the changes in the global market as critical to the development
of small island states, such as St. Lucia. “The challenges they present to
business and consumers are matters that must be discussed fully with all
stakeholders, so that they can take the appropriate action with the help of
government to survive the onslaught of globalization and trade liberalization,
in an ever changing and dynamic environment where the gap continues to widen
between rich and poor countries,” Jean added.
The FTAA earmarked for 2005, is a trade treaty involving the movement of goods,
persons and capital, and involves nine negotiation areas. External Trade Advisor
Calixte Leon has warned that for countries like St. Lucia with limited
capacities-human, financial and otherwise, the effort to follow such
negotiations is humongous. He has suggested that in order for St. Lucia to
become involved in such trading arrangements certain criteria are paramount.
Mr. Leon said, “There must be a provision for technical assistance first and
foremost on one hand and financial assistance during the negotiations process on
the other; St. Lucia will be desirous of having an FTAA that is geared primarily
to economic development, and secondly it should be an FTAA which is geared to
structural transformation of our economy.”
It has been recognized that negotiations financing will have to be derived from
domestic and regional resources. In the case of St. Lucia, efforts have gotten
underway as evident in the recent passage of the Government Securities Bill,
whilst at the level of CARICOM, the idea has been mooted for a Regional
Integration Fund.
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