Deon P. Green, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Anthony Hylton, says the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has agreed to initiate policy changes affecting the Caribbean region.

Addressing members of the Diaspora in London last week, Hylton said the Caribbean's objective at the WTO is to ensure that there is a way to address decisions that are not in the region's interest. Referring to future negotiations of the WTO, the Foreign Minister stated, "What we want is for the WTO to give the region the policy space such that the region can do things that are critical and can cause serious dislocation, such as recent changes in the sugar and banana industries."

He said the region recognises that the world is changing. However, he stressed that the region wants to be able to operate at a pace that is manageable, taking into account a number of factors affecting the Caribbean.

The concerns were presented to the WTO meeting in Geneva by Senator Hylton last week, where he said he was given the assurance that the matter would be addressed and, thus, the next development round of the WTO agreements will be more beneficial to the Caribbean. Senator Hylton disclosed that he has been selected to attend the next WTO conference in Switzerland in January to represent the Caribbean's voice.

A vision and clarity

The Senator added: "We (Caribbean) have a vision and clarity of where we are going and we must be prepared to fight for that vision of what we want out of these multinational negotiations that will provide for our needs and assist as a people, policymakers, private sector organisations and businesses to participate in a global economy."