KINGSTON, Jamaica - INTERNATIONAL trade is vital to the survival and economic growth of small vulnerable developing economies (SVDEs). The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is the international agency charged with negotiation of the rules which constitute the multilateral trading system. The implementation and the adjudication of disputes in the interpretation and application of the rules also fall within its purview.
CARICOM has long felt that the WTO has not adequately incorporated sufficient sensitivity to the problems and concerns of SVDEs. In fact, we have suffered a loss of preferential trade arrangements in bananas and sugar because they conflict with the free trade principles of the WTO.
It is clear that what happens at the WTO can have positive or negative repercussions for CARICOM. The views of the WTO director general can influence the agency's policies. Therefore, the person holding that post is an issue of vital importance to Caricom.