Trade Minister Rufus Bousquet meets with WTO Director General Pascal Lamy
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Contact: Lucius Doxerie
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 – Trade and Industry Minister Honourable Rufus Bousquet on Friday, November 14, 2 concluded two days of high level meetings in Geneva. The meetings which were held during Geneva Week took place against the backdrop of the stalled multilateral negotiations of the Doha Round and concern over the possible impact that the results of the current ongoing negotiations between the European Communities (EC) and selected Central American countries would have on Saint Lucia’s and the Windward Islands banana industry.
At a meeting with Ambassador Kckart Guth, Head of the European Delegation in Geneva, Minister Bousquet called on the EC to resist the call from the MFN countries that the EC intends to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with, for any further erosion of the preferences being enjoyed by Windward Island banana producers. The minister also reflected on the economic and social implications that any further erosion of preference margins would have on Saint Lucia. To this end, the minister stressed the high priority that his Government places on finding a solution on bananas that takes account of the development needs and priorities of the Government and people of Saint Lucia and the rest of the Windward Islands.
The Minister’s intervention in this matter had the full support of Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the current Head of Government of CARICOM with responsibility for bananas.
As part of his demarche on Geneva Minister Bousquet met with Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organization. During this encounter the minister relayed the view that while Saint Lucia is supportive of the multilateral trading system the position of the Government is that “that there should be an equitable outcome to the current negotiations - an outcome that takes into account the peculiar circumstances of Small Vulnerable Economies like that of Saint Lucia.”
The minister also held a constructive discussion with high level officials from the International Trade Centre—a joint body of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization mandated to provide technical assistance to facilitate the integration of developing counties into the multilateral trading system. During this meeting, the minister discussed approaches which would lead to a greater level of assistance being provided from the ITC to address some of the capacity constraints of small and mid-sized enterprises in Saint Lucia. The minister reiterated Government’s full commitment to providing support to the private sector and proposed to continue dialogue with the ITC.
A comprehensive framework through which support could be provided through technical assistance to the business and industrial sector of Saint Lucia formed the core of the Minister’s discussions.
The minister’s visit to Geneva was supported by the Permanent Delegation of the OECS to Geneva. |
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