Caribbean Trade Law and Development

Category: Barbados

  • Why Barbados’ co-hosting of 15th UNCTAD Quadrennial is a big deal

    Why Barbados’ co-hosting of 15th UNCTAD Quadrennial is a big deal

    Alicia Nicholls

    Barbados has been successful in its bid to host the 15th Quadrennial Conference of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in October, 2020. In a strong nod to south-south cooperation, Barbados will co-chair the events with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which will host the World Investment Forum and the first eCommerce Week for Asia in Abu Dhabi.

    On June 25th, the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board unanimously endorsed both countries’ bids, and the decision has been submitted to the UN General Assembly for their approval in September.

    For most Barbadians, trade and development issues seem remote. However, the success of our island’s bid is a significant achievement for several reasons. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, UNCTAD is the United Nations’ main subsidiary organ dealing with trade and development matters. Barbados will be the first Caribbean country and first Small Island Developing State (SIDS) to host the quadrennial conference, which is UNCTAD’s highest decision making body which sets that organisation’s mandate and priorities every four years. The first quadrennial was held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1964 and the 14th Conference was held in Nairobi, Kenya in 2016.

    Barbados has always sought to be a leading global voice championing the issues affecting small States not only with regard to trade, but also climate change. For example, in 1994, Barbados hosted the UN Global Conference on Sustainable Development for Small Island Developing States, out of which had come the Barbados Programme of Action. Hosting the UNCTAD Quadrennial gives Barbados the opportunity to have a strong imprint in setting UNCTAD’s trade and development mandate and work priorities for the next four years.

    The UNCTAD Quadrennial and its side events are expected to attract a reported 3,500 visitors and delegates, including Heads of Government and State and other government representatives from UNCTAD’s 194 Member States, representatives of the private sector, civil society, academia and other international bodies and organisations. This is a potential boost to the island’s tourist arrivals and foreign reserves and another golden opportunity to showcase Barbados’ quintessential hospitality and culture on a global stage. The thematic side events include, for example, the World Youth Forum, the Global Commodities Forum and the World Civil Society Forum.

    Co-hosting such a momentous event with UAE is also an opportune catalyst for Barbados to deepen economic ties with that country.

    The Barbados delegation, which was involved in negotiations with UNCTAD for several months and which made their final pitch on June 24th, must be commended for their hard work and initiative.

    The UNCTAD press release on the success of Barbados’ bid may be read here.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B., is an international trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.

    DISCLAIMER: All views expressed herein are her personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of any institution or entity with which she may be affiliated from time to time.

  • Happy 50th Anniversary of Independence Barbados! Tribute to Barbados at 50

    Happy 50th Anniversary of Independence Barbados! Tribute to Barbados at 50

    Alicia Nicholls

    I would like to take this opportunity to extend a happy 50th Anniversary of Independence to all my fellow Barbadians both at home and in the diaspora. Our country Barbados, with an area of just 166 sq miles and a population of around 280,000, may be little more than a small dot on the geographical map but it is hard to deny how far we have come from a small British colony prior to November 30, 1966.

    Barbados lacks any real natural resources. But thanks to the steady hand of successive governments, we became a country that former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, once described as “punching above its weight”. We are known as the inventors of road tennis, home to the third oldest Parliament in the world, the birthplace of international superstar Rihanna, the greatest cricketer the world has ever seen Sir Garfield Sobers and the inventor of the precursor to the search engine Alan Emtage, just to name a few.

    We cultivated a reputation both in the Caribbean and abroad as a country with an enviable level of social development, respect for the rule of law, good governance, a strong democratic tradition,  a 99% literacy rate, and a well-educated people who make our country proud wherever we roam. We punch above our weight on social indicators, ranking high on the Human Development Index. We are classified by the World Bank as a high income non-OECD country. In our 50 years of independence, we can boast of always having peaceful transitions of power. Political assassinations, coup d’etats, dictatorships and civil wars are alien to the Barbadian way and have never occurred in our country.

    On the global stage we have earned the respect of fellow countries by joining with other developing countries to provide decisive leadership on international issues affecting small island developing states such as climate change, and on issues critical to small vulnerable economies in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

    Like every country, Barbados is not without its challenges. The post-Global Recession years have not been kind, exposing structural weaknesses which have festered for too long and need to be addressed by decisive leadership. There are things we need to improve upon to ensure that the gains our forefathers, like the late father of independence, Errol Walton Barrow, worked hard to build, will remain for future generations. Complacency will do us no favours.

    However, despite the challenges, I have no doubt we have the skills and creativity to overcome them. We just need the will. When I saw the recent newspaper article which showed some 110 people became new Barbadian citizens at the latest citizenship ceremony, it reiterated to me why we Barbadians are so proud of our country. For all its faults, there is no place like the 246. No matter where we roam, the “Rock” will always be home.

    Happy 50th Anniversary of Independence, Barbados!

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B., is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.

  • WTO Director General Visits Barbados

    Alicia Nicholls

    Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Roberto Azevedo, paid an official visit to Barbados this week. The Director General’s visit to Barbados comes as part of his official visit to the Caribbean. Earlier this week the Director General visited Jamaica where he met with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and other senior government representatives, and gave a speech at the University of the West Indies’ Mona Campus.

    According to Barbados’ Government Information Service, Mr. Azevedo met with Barbados’ Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon Freundel Stuart and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the Hon Senator Maxine McClean.

    Barbados has been a strong and vocal supporter of the multilateral trade process. Barbados was a founding member of the WTO and has been a party to the GATT since 1967. The chairperson’s statement on Barbados’ trade policy review in January last year noted, inter alia, that members “praised Barbados’ strong support for the multilateral trading system and the role it has played in the DDA negotiations” and its open and liberal investment and trade regime.  Barbados has played a leading role in advocating for the interests of Small Vulnerable Economies (SVEs) and currently chairs the Africa, Caribbean & Pacific (ACP) group  in the WTO.

    According to a report by Barbados’ Nation News, Minister McClean and Director General Azevedo held a joint press conference at the headquarters of her ministry. During this press conference, Minister McClean is reported to have emphasised the challenges faced by small states like Barbados in the multilateral trading system and reiterated the need for a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round.

    The future of the Doha Round has been left undecided at the WTO’s 10th Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, Kenya last December. In the Nairobi Declaration, WTO members unprecedentedly stated their disagreement on whether Doha should be ended or continued.

    Details on Director General Azevedo’s official visit to Barbados may be obtained from the official website of the Barbados Government Information Service here.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.

     

  • Barbados Trade Mission to visit 3 CARICOM countries

    Alicia Nicholls

    According to Nation News, Barbados will be undertaking a five-day trade mission to three countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) with the aim to “uncover more opportunities for Barbadian exporters, and further enhance the development of trade relations, joint ventures and other investments which could yield economic gains for Barbados”.

    Nation News reports that the delegation will be led by Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, the Hon. Donville Inniss, with representatives from the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC), the Barbados Manufacturers’ Association (BMA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, as well as representatives from seventeen local companies. The three countries to be visited are St. Lucia, Grenada and Guyana.

    Read more on this story at Nation News here.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.