CARICOM Special Session on Services Convened

A Special Session of the ‘CARICOM Working Group on Services
Negotiations’ was convened in Barbados, November 16 to 18.
Mr. Ramesh Chaitoo, Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery
(RNM) Services Trade Specialist, characterized the Special Session as an
“important opportunity to assess the status of the region’s preparations
for World Trade Organization (WTO) services offers, and discuss crucial
next steps in this process.”
The Special Session considered draft initial services offers, with a view to
submitting all outstanding offers from CARICOM Member States to the
WTO by February 2005. To date, only St. Kitts & Nevis and Suriname
have made services offers in General Agreement on Trade in Services
(GATS) negotiations in the current round of global trade talks - the Doha
Round.
The meeting also considered outstanding restrictions to services trade in
the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) context, and the
relevant Member States highlighted initiatives underway to address such
restrictions.
Facilitated by services specialists from the WTO Secretariat, the first day
of the Special Session sensitised officials on services negotiations and
issues in the multilateral context. The second and third days,
respectively, were focused mainly on a consideration of draft offers.
The CARICOM Secretariat organized the forum, made possible with
support from the WTO Secretariat. In addition to the CARICOM
Secretariat and the RNM, a number of regional and national bodies with
services interests were in attendance.
Nand C. Bardouille
Tel: (246) 430-1678
nand.bardouille@crnm.org
November 19, 2004