Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter
Bishop Carmen Stewart (left), Bishop Herro Blair (second left) and other pastors pray for new People's National Party president Portia Simpson Miller, as the Pentecostal Gospel Temple Family of Churches celebrated its 39th anniversary and 40th year of pastoral ministry of Bishop Stewart on the church grounds at 111 Windward Road, Kingston, on Sunday. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
A NEW Portia Simpson Miller-led government will find itself in a make-or-break period of negotiations for several international trade agreements.
April 30 is the deadline for the stalled World Trade Organisation (WTO) development round negotiations which began four years ago. According to execu-tive director of the CARICOM regional negotiating machinery (RNM), Dr. Richard Bernal, such a completion schedule would be the most optimistic scenario following the four years of negotiation that have already passed.
Speaking to local business people in Montego Bay earlier this month, Mrs. Simpson Miller indicated that development would be central to her foreign policy considerations.
Acknowledging the threats and opportunities of globalisation, she promised that a government lead by her would "ensure that our trade and foreign policies address Jamaica's development needs, in particular the entrepreneurial needs of communities."
AGREEMENTS ON THE TABLE
Former foreign minister and adviser to Mrs. Simpson Miller, Ambassador Anthony Hylton, declined to elaborate further on her position, instead referring to the speech quoted above. Asked whether he would resume his old post if asked to replace incumbent K.D. Knight, he replied only that "I am a servant and whatever the Prime Minister asks me to do I will be able to do it."
Dr. Bernal told The Gleaner that the change of Prime Minister should not unduly affect the negotiation process.
"The (CARICOM) prime ministers collectively decide on the mandate for the region and they don't get into the day-to-day negotiations. They give the instructions and they get the final product, but in terms of actual involvement it is the negotiators and to a lesser extent the trade ministers."
Also on the negotiating table, added Dr. Bernal, are the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) and several bilateral agreements. He said that a cost benefit study by the RNM on one such agreement between CARICOM and the United States should be completed within two months.
Another bilateral agreement, this time with Canada, has ironically been affected by a change in that country's government, with the RNM waiting to hear whether the Canadian position remains the same. CARICOM has also to decide whether to update its existing agreement with Venezuela. Another, with the Dominican Republic, is unfinished.
