Federation signs on to EPA
Arrangement to transform Trade for the country

By VonDez Phipps
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ON Wednesday, October 15, St. Kitts-Nevis officially said goodbye to the Lome Convention and Cotonou Agreement and welcomed the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with an officially signing; a step that is expected to change the concept of international trade for the twin-island Federation.

This history-making signing, held at the Sherbourne Conference Centre, Barbados, was attended by the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) along with the members of Cariforum with the exception of Guyana and Haiti. The former is expected to sign by the end of this week as its government is still discussing the arrangement in Cabinet. Haiti, however, after weathering major hurricanes, stated that it was not able to make any new commitment.

The Cotonou Agreement provided an interim arrangement to allow Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific Groups of States (ACP) and the EU to find a trading arrangement wthat is compatible with the standards of the World Trade Organisation.

~~Adz:Right~~Minister of International Trade Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris told SKNVibes that the step signals a break with past trade arrangement with the EU where, under the Lome Convention, there was unidirectional trade of sugar where preferential markets and prices were provided.

He added that the new agreement is based on reciprocal trade, which he describes as a “critical principle of global trade”. “Under previous dispensations, we were trading with the EU largely in relation to traditional goods like sugar and bananas.

It is clear that the sugar export is no longer feasible. And so, we have to look for other engagements with the EU. Luckily, the EU goes beyond trades in goods, but embodies services and makes provision for facilitating negotiating with stakeholders. This is done to our benefit...there are many opportunities and possibilities for our locals to take advantage of.

“It is important to note that the EPA is a document. And so, our challenge is to translate the provisions of the document into a living experience for our people. We have to make the document work and get more of our business people here more involved. We need to set up an Implementation Committee which will serve to identify legislation and administration mechanisms.”

Dr. Harris mentioned that there are already pledges made by the EU to assist in capacity-building to allow countries to identify their major weaknesses in order to get the necessary support.