JAMAICAN Manufactures were heartened that CARICOM Ministers took a firm stand during the WTO Ministerial talks at CANCUN held earlier this month. If accepted, the proposals by the developed countries would have driven yet another nail into the coffin of the Jamaican productive sector already severely weakened by imports on which the correct duty has not been paid and those that enter the island unmindful of standards, labelling and safety regulations.
The Ministers had the advantage of being supported by the CARICOM Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) headed by Ambassador Richard Bernal.
A notable feature of the recent talks in CANCUN was the unified position taken by developing countries as they refused to cave in to the developed country positions on the so-called Singapore issues of agriculture, government procurement, trade, investment and competition policy. CARICOM has a worthy tradition of leadership in these issues from the International Sugar Agreement in
1968, and the arduous lobbying for bananas and preferences more recently. Mr. Bernal has built up a reputation as a sound and balanced negotiator and is highly regarded, evidenced by the prominence that the international press gave to his comments. He was quoted alongside the USA's Trade Representative Mr. Robert Zoellick and Europe's Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy. Indeed the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported him as saying: "There is nothing for us small countries in this proposal," he said. "We don't want any of this."
Bernal walks in the footsteps of legendary Caribbean trade negotiators, Robert Lightbourne, Hugh Shearer, P.J. Patterson and Shridath Ramphal.
Their skill and the respect they engendered have given Caribbean nations a leverage far out of proportion to their size.
Jamaica's Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister K D Knight has shown a ready and willing attitude to fight unfair trading practices. These must be resisted to enable Jamaican agricultural and manufacturing, entities to rebound. Before he left Minister Knight made a clear declaration that Jamaica would not bow to developed country demands that our tariffs be further reduced. He stuck to his word. Manufacturers are making increased use of the repeated requests by Government negotiators to attend and participate in trade negotiations. Ambassador Gail Mathurin at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs actively encourages regular interfacing with businessmen and the JMA was represented at CANCUN by its Executive Director, Nicola Gordon-Rowe who is a specialist in international trade. Commerce, Science and Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell has established the Anti-Dumping Commission and this institution along with the recently enacted Trade Remedies Legislation, are useful tools that businessmen must put to good use.
CARICOM manufacturers must now show the unity that the RNM model has demonstrated can work effectively in trade negotiations. National interests must never be forgotten or put aside but every effort has to be made to make the most of the influence that the productive entities from fourteen countries can wield in an international negotiation. Positions must be refined on Rules of Origin, Technical Barriers to Trade and Tariff and Non-Tariff Measures, and businessmen must formulate aggressive strategies for trade negotiations as they do for market penetration.
