NEGOTIATIONS AND THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT : CARICOM MINISTERS EXPRESS CONCERN AT EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S ASSESSMENT OF AGRICULTURE TRADE

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Ministers of the Caribbean Community, meeting at the Twenty First Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) in Trinidad and Tobago on May 12-13, 2006, expressed serious concern about the stance being taken on agriculture by the European Commission (EC) in the current negotiations for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

The Ministers noted that there is a perception held in Europe that Agriculture has no future in the Caribbean. This view, the Caribbean Ministers, noted, is erroneous and ignores the multi-dimensional nature of agriculture and its significant contribution to their economies. Also noted was the fact that the traditional methods of measuring agriculture’s contribution to the economy far understate its actual contribution. Further, the Caribbean has embarked upon a major initiative to strengthen and reposition the agri-food sector aimed at greater competitiveness in production and trade, enhancing agriculture-tourism linkages, ensuring greater food security, maintaining the integrity of the environment and improving the lives of rural people.

The Ministers therefore called upon the European Commission to revise its assessment of the Region’s agriculture and to accept that significant provision must be made for it in the EPA agreement now being negotiated. Ministers also expressed their support for the position of the Region’s negotiators for the insertion of an agricultural development strategy into the EPA.