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Contact:
John Emmanuel
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 - Work has gotten underway here aimed at giving
trade officials an improved knowledge of the dispute settlement rules,
procedures and practices governing World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations.
The latest initiative comes in the form of a week long regional seminar which
started Monday, March 22nd at the Bay Gardens Hotel.
The event has been organized by the WTO, the CARICOM Secretariat, the
Inter-American Development Bank, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade. Deputy Programme Manager for External Economic and Trade
Relations at the CARICOM Secretariat, Valerie Alleyne-Odle says over 20 similar
sessions have taken place exposing over 200 regional officials to the various
WTO disciplines.
This particular seminar will hopefully prove beneficial as participants seek to
implement the dispute resolution mechanisms at the level of the single market
and economy. Also, it is hoped that at the end of the seminar, “the region will
be better able to deal with the inevitable challenges that may arise not only at
the level of the WTO, but with respect to all other trading relations like the
FTAA, and many of our bilateral agreements,” notes Mrs. Alleyne-Odle.
Given the very limited administrative capacity and human resources of small
states, trade officials say St. Lucia and the wider CARICOM grouping will
continue to press the case for greater assistance to be given to smaller
economies, in order to facilitate their effective participation within the WTO
dispute settlement mechanism. That view is sheared by External Trade Advisor in
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Calixte Leon. He
emphasized that “followers of debates involving dispute settlement would
recognize that the cost of participating in such settlement procedures was
exorbitant,” much beyond the capacity of small countries like St. Lucia.
While commending the initiative taken to promote the effective participation of
all WTO members in dispute settlement proceedings, the senior government
official pointed out that most small economies were still unable to afford the
discounted rates being charged. St. Lucia, he says welcomes a suggestion to have
a pool of WTO lawyers to assist in cases. Notwithstanding that, he says
individual small economies have little capacity to either mount or defend their
cases.
The odds appear to be staked even further against small states Mr. Leon laments,
“in that if a small state was ever to be successful in a dispute against a
larger WTO member, and the WTO member concerned fails to bring its measure into
conformity with the WTO provisions, it would be very difficult for that smaller
country to impose sanctions.” In light of those developments Mr. Leon says
CARICOM must continue to lobby at ensuring that small economies are better able
to participate in the dispute settlement mechanism.
He suggested among other things, the need for WTO members to show due constraint
in invoking dispute settlement procedures against small states.
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