BERNAL

DIRECTOR GENERAL of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) and principal negotiator of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), Ambassador Dr Richard Bernal, has stoutly de-fended the EPA between Cari-forum and the European Union (EU). He declared that the accord was not a panacea, but represented the best trade pact the region could enter into at this time.

Cariforum, comprising Jamaica and its 14 Caribbean Community partners and the Dominican Republic, is set to sign the EPA with the EU in Barbados, in April.

In a direct response to some detractors of the EPA, Ambassador Bernal dismissed the claim that the region entered into the agreement after buckling to pressure from the EU.

Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo and a number of academics from across the region criticised the EPA and charged that the countries of the region reached the agreement under duress.

However, addressing members of the Internal and External Affairs Committee of Parliament in Gordon House on Monday, Bernal borrowed a phrase from a former United States President, John F. Kennedy, saying: "We did not negotiate out of fear and we did not fear to negotiate".

He added: "There was no gun to the head. We wanted an agreement, we needed an agreement, and we negotiated successfully and got an agreement. We didn't do it out of fear, we did some unprecedented things, the Europeans did not hand us a template and say sign here. For the first time in the history of this region, we wrote our own economic partnership agreement, that is what we used to work with the European Union."

He said the EPA was a new departure from previous agreements entered into with the EU.

"In the past, we made supplication to the EU to give us special treatment and we were not required to give anything in return. Those days are gone, everybody wants something."

Bernal said Cariforum came out with the better deal at the end of the negotiation.

The success of the EPA is going to depend on how the Cariforum states implement it, he added.

"It, therefore, means we need to look at the regional and domestic policy matrix which can ensure that the agreement comes to fruition in terms of exports, investment and growth."

"If I could borrow a phrase that is becoming increasingly popular in the Unites States - 'yes we can'."

Duty-free, quota-free access

Under the agreement, Cari-forum states will have duty-free and quota-free access to all goods exported to the EU market, except for sugar, rice and bananas, where a short transitional arrangement is in place.

The EU will also open 94 per cent of its services sector to the region, a development Bernal described as unprecedented.

However, in return, More Developed Countries such as Jamaica will grant access to 75 per cent to the EU, while the Least Developed Countries will grant access for 65 per cent of the services sector.