Harris advocates transparency at Port and Customs

By VonDez Phipps
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN his featured address at the WTO Trade Facilitation Needs Assessment held on December 1, Minister of Finance and International Trade Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris highlighted how transparency and predictability at the nation’s Port and Customs could improve the lives of citizens.

Dr. Harris said that Needs Assessments should ensure the lowering of corruption as the Port and Customs procedures become more transparent and predictability is enhanced. 

“These in turn will help to boost economic growth and trade expansion, and possibly help us to establish some best practices for the region in terms of trade facilitation.”

He purported that ordinary people in the region are still waiting to be persuaded that many engagements in trade negotiations, under the rubric of various Caribbean organizations will crystallize into a better quality of life for them.  This, he said, was one of the obstacles which may hamper the effective survival of the region on the international trade scene,  adding however, that their skepticism may be a result of communication deficiencies on the part of governmental and non-governmental institutions.

“The communication deficit demonstrated in our tendency to over-intellectualize is distantly removed from the daily struggles of ordinary people wanting affordable prices for goods.  We must therefore ask ‘How do transparency and predictability at our Port and Customs improve the life for our people?’

“The implementation deficit also poses problems to the region. Many of the agreements which we have signed lay in abeyance for want of the heavy resources in time and manpower including expertise and finance to implement them and bring benefits into being. We therefore need to work on these and other areas of weakness. We need as part of the negotiations to seek resource support to overcome some, if not all of our difficulties and deficiencies.” ~~Adz:Right~~

Harris indicated that as traditional barriers to trade have been continuously dismantled over the last decade, increasing attention is being paid to non-tariff barriers which he opined “are still hindering the proper implementation of international trade policies”.

He further stated that the gamut of obstacles include the lack of computerization and limited use of Information Technology, the lack of cooperation and coordination amongst the various agencies and stakeholders involved in trade facilitation, and the inefficiencies in the release and clearance of goods.

The excessiveness of documentation required, the impediments associated with reliable means of transportation, the lack of transparency and predictability of information and procedures and outdated tariff classification systems were also cited as elements that tend to limit the scope of trade in the region.

Dr. Harris stressed that through proper negotiation the nation can have a better allocation of scarce resources, improve the investment climate, reform activities that are feasible and sustainable, and lower trade transaction costs.