Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General, Dr Carla Barnett, today delivered remarks at the 61st Regular Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED).
In her address, Dr Barnett underscored CARICOM’s solidarity with Member States severely impacted by Hurricane Melissa and reaffirmed the Council’s vital role in advancing regional trade and economic resilience. She emphasised that as the Region continues to face climate-related shocks, strengthening cooperation and integration through COTED remains essential to building resilience and sustainable growth.
Please read Dr Barnett’s speech below:
It is a pleasure to welcome you to this Sixty-First Regular Meeting of the Council of Trade and Economic Development (COTED).
Excellencies, let me begin by expressing our solidarity with and support for the Government and People of Jamaica and Haiti, our two Member States which have been severely impacted by record-breaking Hurricane Melissa. We have been shocked and saddened by the loss of life, and the damage and devastation caused.
Amidst the devastation, it has been heartwarming to see the outpouring of support from the Caribbean Community including through the work of Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency [CDEMA], Caribbean Public Health Agency [CARPHA] private sector groups and regional associations working to support disaster response teams at the national level. The visit to Jamaica on Monday by four CARICOM Heads of Government was a tangible demonstration of solidarity and yielded offers of additional meaningful support.
This experience leaves us in no doubt about the urgency of addressing the existential threats posed by climate change and the need to redouble our efforts to build resilience and foster sustainable development across our Region. Strengthening our trade and economic performance is a critical part of this, and we anticipate that the COTED should continue to play its important role in this regard.
I am, therefore, encouraged to see that the Agenda of this COTED includes important initiatives that will help us to respond collectively and strategically to these challenges, and continue the push for growth that the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) is intended to help us realise.
The discussions on the industrial policy will be an important item for this session. When finalised, it will be an important aspect of the regional strategy to promote regional value chains, expand intra-regional trade, support entrepreneurship, and make trade and business development within our Community more competitive. It follows the excellent work done on the regional agriculture policy, the 25 by 2025 plus 5, which is delivering tangible results.
These sectoral strategies will complement the steady work of this COTED on important trade policy measures, including the revised Common External Tariffs (CET) and Rules of Origin, and the negotiation of trade agreements at the regional and national levels. These include the CARICOM/Colombia Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement (TECA) and partial scope agreements proposed by Belize. It is expected that this meeting will move forward to conclude the certification of the Belize-El Salvador partial scope and that clear direction will be given for advancing the CARICOM-Colombia negotiations to completion.
The work that is being undertaken to assess the impact of changes in global trade policies, especially those of the United States, and prepare for the likely changes in key trade arrangements is crucial. Careful attention must therefore be paid to the report on the ongoing efforts of the Expert Working Group comprising the Secretariat, the CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO), The University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), complemented by the World Bank.
You will receive an update on the steps to conclude the updating of the CET and Rules of Origin, which are now ready for implementation. This will be complemented by work underway to address the use of technical specification in the suspension and safeguard regimes, and to complete a study on the list of ineligibles.
With respect to the CIMSuPro, I urge close collaboration among the Secretariat, Suriname as the current host of the CIMSUPro, Member States, and the CPSO and national private sector bodies, to advance this in a meaningful way. We must harness technology to make our trade regime more efficient, and this is a step in that direction.
The Senior Officials have done substantial work to address the technical issues before you, and their report provides a solid basis for this Council to take things forward.
Mr. Chairman, I am confident that under your leadership, and with the valuable contribution of Ministers and Heads of Delegation present, we will deliver clear outcomes from this Sixty-First Meeting of the Council. My team and I are ready to give you and the Meeting of this Council our full support.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
