SENATOR DELANO Franklyn, Minister of State in the Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Ministry last Friday responded to questions posed by Senator Bruce Golding in the Senate two weeks ago. Below are excerpts of Senator Franklyn's responses tabled in the Senate.
Question 1:
Will the Minister indicate the state of Jamaica's preparedness for the new round of trade negotiations under the World Trade Organisation (WTO)?
Answer:
The second year of the negotiations mandated by the Doha Ministerial Declaration will commence in January 2003. Jamaica has been participating in these negotiations working on two levels, the national and regional. Our participation and preparations cover all the negotiations in which Jamaica is currently engaged. The three sets of negotiations (WTO, FTAA and ACP/EU) are linked as decisions taken in one fora can have implications for decisions taken in the others.
Preparations for and participation in these negotiations now enjoy a high level of consultations and co-rdination involving not only the public sector, but also the private sector and civil society. In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade has established the Jamaica Trade and Adjustment Team (JTAT). The Members of JTAT represent the public and private sectors, the academic community and civil society. JTAT provides a consultative forum for the formulation of trade policy and negotiating positions.
Question 2:
Will the Minister outline the schedule for these negotiations and the scope of their mandate?
Answer:
The negotiations in the WTO, as mandated in the Declaration of the 4th Ministerial Conference, held in Doha, Qatar, November 9-14, 2002, are scheduled to end on January 1, 2005. The negotiations will be concluded on the basis of a single undertaking i.e. agreement on all items mandated as part of the negotiating agenda. The 2002 WTO Doha Ministerial Declaration approved the launch of a new round of multi-lateral trade negotiations. With some exceptions, the negotiations commenced in January 2002 and will conclude by January 2005. The negotiations will be conducted on the basis of a single undertaking and will be supervised by a Trade Negotiations Committee under the authority of the General Council.
Question 3:
Will the Minister provide an update on the planned negotiations to establish post-Lome Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union pursuant to the Cotonou Agreement?
Answer:
Preparations for the launch of the ACP/EU trade negotiations have been ongoing since the signing of the Cotonou Agreement in June 2000. During this time
period several preparatory meetings have been held at different levels within the ACP Group of States as well as with the EU. These meetings focused primarily on establishing the principles, guidelines, modalities and structure for the conduct of the negotiations for the EPAs. The primary objective of EPAs, inter alia, is the establishment of a free trade area which progressively removes substantive tariffs between the EU and the ACP, as well as the removal of all non-tariff barriers, such as quotas and other measures with equivalent effect. The EPAs will cover both goods and services.
Question 4:
Given the scheduled discontinuation of preferential trading arrangements for bananas and sugar in 2006 and 2009, respectively, what safeguards will Jamaica, through the Regional Negotiating Machinery and in conjunction with its ACP partners, be seeking to secure to minimise the impact on these two industries?
Answer:
Resulting from the dispute in the WTO, between 1996 - 2001, the EC's banana regime will be based on a tariff only system in 2006. The EC's "Everything But Arms" (EBA) initiative will see the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) gaining duty free access to the EU market for sugar by 2009. Sugar also faces a new challenge from the complaint filed in the WTO in September by Australia and Brazil against the European Commis-sion's export subsidies for sugar.
The preferential market access, which Jamaica, its CARICOM partners and other ACP States have had to the EU market, is indeed, under threat from several sources including internal EU reforms. This is a reality with which Jamaica, its CARICOM partners and other ACP States have been seized for a number of years.
Question 5:
Has the Government concluded its consideration of the report of the Task Force on the Sugar Industry (2001) and, if so, has a decision been made on the various options presented for securing the viability of the sugar industry?
Answer:
The Government examined the Report of the Task Force on the Sugar Industry (2001) but did not in fact conclude its consideration of it, and therefore no final decision has yet been made on any option or options presented. Three reports listed as under were laid in the House of Representatives at different times: The Report of the Task Force 2001; the Report of the Sugar Industry Authority; and the Report of the Parliamentary Committee on the Economy and Production.
The Cabinet however decided that these reports should be reviewed by a team, and the areas of agreement and disagreement be examined, in order to arrive at one option to be recommended to the Government. Additionally, steps necessary to implement those recommendations were to be outlined.
It is expected that the review will be completed and submitted by the end of January.
