BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AS the Member States of the Organisation of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) prepare the groundwork for the establishment of their Coalition of Services Industries (CSI), regional and international trade experts have called for greater partnership between the government and the private sector in order for the initiative to thrive.
The primary aims of the CSI are to prepare service-providers challenges of services regime with the advent of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), and to promote export of services firstly at the regional level and then internationally.
Speaking to SKNVibes, Certified International Trade Consultant Doreen Conrad said the coalitions should not be based on one sector, but must bring about a partnership between public and private sectors in order for the CSI’s introduction into the region can be seamless. She also outlined a number of ways in which a government coulld assist its country’s coalition.
“The coalition can collect from the private sector what its market priorities and interests are and then relevant information regarding the interests of the markets can be fed to trade negotiators. In most countries there is a disconnect between the public and private sectors for the trade talks, and the private sector often feels that it has no input.
“We need that linkage of policy. Many governments don’t have trade promotion programmes for services and usually recommend trade fairs and that doesn’t work for service providers. So the private sector can give its input in a mixed sector trade mission for the service sector,” Conrad said.
She added that challenges including limited market access, due to lack of credentials and high-cost telecommunications, could pressure government to rectify them in order to bring about an ease in marketing and delivering resources.
Head of the OECS Trade Policy Unit Virginia Paul said that at the level of CARICOM, it was agreed that private sector should be mobilised and more organised in order to encourage increased partnership with the public sector. She informed that with the coming of the CSME it has become more important for such a partnership to be strengthened.
“With the advent of the CSME, people need to be able to move easily and travel and work from one country to another. The coalition acts as a depository of information which can certify people who are self-employed and move around through the CSME. This is an ideal way in which government’s trade policy officers can assist service providers.”
Paul indicated that once this partnership is engendered, the region would be more prepared to form a regional coalition to increase export opportunities for CARICOM Member States.
