Caribbean Trade Law and Development

Category: Trade

  • Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest – June 19-25, 2022

    Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest – June 19-25, 2022

    Welcome to our Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest covering the week of June 19-25, 2022! We are pleased to bring you the major trade and development news headlines and analysis from across the Caribbean Region and the world from the past week. We do hope you enjoy this week’s edition!

    THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

    This week Commonwealth Heads of Government met for the first time physically in four years in Kigali, Rwanda under the theme “Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming”. They voted, albeit by a narrow margin, in favour of a second term for incumbent Secretary General Baroness Patricia Scotland. The final communique, leaders’ statement and other declarations can be accessed here.

    UNCTAD has released a study on COVID-19 and trade and development, as well as the lessons learnt. Have a read of the report here. An agreement in principle was reached on a modernised Energy Charter Treaty.

    So what’s happening this coming week? Leaders of the Group of 7 (G7) countries are currently meeting in Germany and have so far announced a ban on the importation of Russian gold as part of a tightening of sanctions against Russian aggression in Ukraine. On June 29th, the Trade Facilitation Agreement, the first major multilateral trade agreement agreed by WTO members, celebrates its fifth year anniversary.

    This week I had the pleasure and honour of being a speaker at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) 39th Annual Conference speaking on the topic “COVID-19 and Businesses: Reflections, Impact and Options“. Read my latest blog article based on my presentation here.

    REGIONAL NEWS

    Belize Chamber BCCI President says Trade License Bill in current form is flawed

    LoveFM: The Government of Belize has put its plan for national trade license reform on hold. This came after several sectors of society, including artists and DJs, complained that the proposed legislation was unfair and badly timed. Read more

    China-Guyana, Bilateral Trade Increased To US$710 Million Last Year

    MENAFN: China’s Ambassador to Guyana, Guo Haiyan, said Monday, that bilateral trade between Guyana and China has grown steadily in recent years, increasing to some US $710 million in 2021 compared to US $500 million during the previous years. Read more

    Guyana local agro-processors to engage Antiguan buyers

    Newsroom: Between 40 to 50 small agro-processors are expected to travel to Antigua soon to engage buyers, Vice President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Ramsay Ali has told the News Room. Read more

    Bajans spent millions on Guyanese products at Agrofest

    Newsroom: There was an overwhelming interest in the locally-made products at the recently concluded agro-fest in Barbados and Head of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Rafeek Khan said that there is now a revitalised interest in improving transportation between the two countries. Read more

    Britain thanks Windrush Caribbean migrants for their contribution to the UK

    Caribbean National Weekly: Britain Wednesday paid tribute to Windrush Caribbean immigrants by unveiling a national monument to celebrate their work in rebuilding the country after World War II. Read more

    UN SG to attend CARICOM Conference

    Prensa Latina: The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, will travel next Friday to Paramaribo, Suriname, to participate in the conference of heads of government of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), they announced the eve. Read more

    Barbados opens CARICOM diplomatic mission in Kenya

    Caribbean National Weekly: Barbados Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Dr. Jerome Walcott, has officially opened the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) diplomatic mission in Nairobi making it the first for the 15-member regional integration movement on the African continent. Read more

    Jamaica Tourism Minister Suggests Single-Visa Regime For CARICOM

    JIS: Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says a single-visa regime among CARICOM member countries should be the next critical consideration in rationalising entry protocols in the region. Read more

    Beyond CARICOM, Guyana registers hemispheric support for threats to food security

    Newsroom: Guyana is leading an aggressive food security agenda within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)- a 15-member bloc of Caribbean states, but amid growing concerns of food shortages, the country has backed similar efforts in the wider Americas. Read more

    Cayman Islands Minister contemplating trade with Costa Rica, Belize and Honduras

    LoopCayman: This scenario could change, however, as the Minister for Agriculture, Jay Ebanks, now has his eyes set on trading with more neighbours in the region, in particular, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica and possibly Cuba. Read more

    INTERNATIONAL NEWS

    EU, UK win carve-out in Energy Charter Deal

    Euractiv: Investments in new fossil fuel projects will no longer enjoy legal protection on EU and UK territories under a deal reached on Friday (24 June) to reform the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty. Read more

    Commission unveils new approach to trade agreements to promote green and just growth

    European Commission: In its Communication on “The power of trade partnerships: together for green and just economic growth”, the Commission is putting forward how to further strengthen the implementation and enforcement of Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of the EU’s trade agreements. Read more

    Food security: EU to step up its support to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

    European Commission: The European Commission adopted today a proposal to mobilise €600 million from the reserves of the European Development Fund to address the current food security crisis aggravated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These funds will support African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to cope with the dire situation, through humanitarian assistance (€150 million), sustainable production and resilience of food systems (€350 million) and macro-economic support (€100 million). Read more

    India, European Union resume talks for free trade agreement after over eight years

    The Hindu: India and the European Union (EU) finally restarted the negotiations for the long-pending trade and investment agreement on Friday after a gap of over eight years. Read more

    UK PM announces major trade initiatives to capitalise on Commonwealth Advantage

    Gov.uk: The Prime Minister will announce a raft of new trade and investment initiatives to create jobs, growth and shared prosperity across the Commonwealth. Read more

    UK appoints new trade commissioner to lead UK-Africa trade and investment relationship

    Gov.uk: International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan has appointed John Humphrey as Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) to Africa. Read more

    Intra-Commonwealth trade to grow to $20 trillion in five years

    The New Times: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has commended the benefits from existing ties between Commonwealth countries and pointed out that intra-trade within the community is expected to grow by 50% to $19.5 trillion in the next five years. Read more

    Rwanda: SG Launches Digital Trade Hackathon

    AllAfrica: The Commonwealth Digital Trade Hackathon was launched Tuesday, June 21, at the end of the Commonwealth Youth Forum (CYF) in Kigali. Read more

    USTR Tai calls U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods ‘significant’ leverage

    Reuters: U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Wednesday said that she views tariffs on Chinese goods as “a significant piece of leverage” in the U.S.-China trade relationship and removing them would likely have a limited effect on controlling short-term inflation. Read more

    US Farmers Welcome Indo-Pacific Economic Framework

    Voice of America: Before the 2016 presidential election, Illinois farmer Brian Duncan looked to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement between the United States and Asian countries, to boost demand for his crops, and in particular, prices for the thousands of hogs he raises annually. Read more

    Russia and China are brewing up a challenge to dollar dominance by creating a new reserve currency

    Business Insider: Russia is ready to develop a new global reserve currency alongside China and other BRICS nations, in a potential challenge to the dominance of the US dollar. Read more

    In unstable times, Jacinda Ardern hopes European powers can avert further crises

    Stuff.co.nz: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will look to lock in a free trade agreement and push Western leaders to reduce the impacts of climate change in the Pacific in a series of meetings across Europe this week. Read more

    STRAIGHT FROM THE WTO

    NEW ON THE CTLD BLOG

    The Caribbean Trade & Development Digest is a weekly trade news digest produced and published by the Caribbean Trade Law & Development Blog. Liked this issue? To read past issues, please visit here. To receive these mailings directly to your inbox, please subscribe to our Blog below:

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  • Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest – June 12-18, 2022

    Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest – June 12-18, 2022

    Welcome to our Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest covering the week of June 12-18, 2022! A happy Father’s Day to all CTLD Blog readers who are fathers and father figures! We are pleased to bring you the major trade and development news headlines and analysis from across the Caribbean Region and the world from the past week. We do hope you enjoy this week’s edition!

    THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

    It has been a pretty nail-biting week in the world of trade. The biggest development, of course, is that the WTO’s Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12) after going into overtime was able to reach outcomes on a package of issues, informally dubbed the ‘Geneva Package’. While there was need for much compromise and some other key things have been left for future work, many commentators laud the outcomes, specifically because they give the WTO a shot of much needed success at a time of growing questions about the organisation’s continued relevance and effectiveness.

    The existing e-commerce customs duties moratorium has been extended for two more years, while a TRIPS Waiver was finally agreed but on vaccine production only and for five years. Perhaps most significantly, the WTO has reached an agreement on disciplining fisheries subsidies. Although there have been reservations expressed about the ‘watered down’ nature of the fisheries subsidies agreement, it is only the second multilateral trade agreement concluded in the WTO’s 25-plus year history and has been dubbed, therefore, a needed win for the organisation.

    Earlier this month, the Summit of the Americas 2022 saw the announcement of a US climate climate initiative for the Caribbean. Read Ambassador Ron Sanders’ commentary on the Summit here.

    The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) held its June plenary. Barbados, Cayman Islands, Haiti, Jamaica remain among the countries listed on FATF’s grey list as of June 2022, while Malta has been removed from that list.

    The COVID-19 pandemic and the fall-out from the Russia-Ukraine conflict continue to negatively impact global supply chains, leading to spiralling inflation and rising fuel costs. The Federal Reserve of the US has implemented the biggest interest rate hike since 1994 in an effort to cool the spiralling inflation and prevent a recession.

    Finally, be sure to read this insightful article by guest contributor Lucius S.J. Doxerie examining the prospects of trade for promoting economic growth in Least developed countries here!

    REGIONAL NEWS

    Guyana tops list of Britain’s Caribbean trade partners

    Stabroek: One of the more recent indicators of external perceptions of the state of health of the Guyana economy was reflected in the pronouncement by British High Commissioner to Guyana, Jane Miller, on Thursday July 2 that Guyana has now positioned itself as Britain’s top trade partner in the Caribbean. Read more

    Caribbean and African Development Banks ink deal

    Turks & Caicos Weekly: The Caribbean Development Bank and the African Development Bank have joined forces to promote trade between the regions and will work together on the sustainable development of MSMEs. Read more

    CDB looking at an integrated logistics transportation system for the region

    Barbados Today: The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) says it is looking at “an integrated logistics transportation system” for the region which would focus on developing various aspects of infrastructure such as ports, roads, farms, storage, warehousing, and standards. Read more

    Promoting sustainable fisheries trade in Eastern Caribbean

    UNCTAD: Eastern Caribbean island nations Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have committed to a regional Blue BioTrade action plan to sustainably harvest and trade queen conch. Read more

    Foreign direct investment to Latin America and the Caribbean rebounded by 56% in 2021

    UNCTAD: Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America and the Caribbean has rebounded from the pandemic-induced slump, growing by 56% to $134 billion in 2021, according to UNCTAD’ World Investment Report 2022 published on 9 June. Read more

    FACT SHEET: Vice President Harris Launches the U.S.-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030 (PACC 2030)

    Whitehouse: Vice President Harris announced the U.S.-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030 (PACC 2030). PACC 2030 is the Biden-Harris Administration’s new initiative involving fresh commitments to — and integration of — climate adaptation and resilience and clean energy programs across the Caribbean region. Read more

    CARICOM trying to restore correspondent banking – Belize PM

    Amandala: At the first official press conference held by the Prime Minister since his being elected into office in November 2020, Hon. John Briceño spoke on several foreign affairs issues concerning the country and the region, including correspondent banking. Read more

    Colombia, CARICOM Countries Open Talks to Update Trade Agreement

    Finance Colombia: Colombia and the CARICOM member countries (Caribbean Common Market) reported advances during an initial meeting held seeking to deepen the Partial Scope Agreement, in force since 1995. Read more

    INTERNATIONAL NEWS

    AfCFTA Positive On Intra-African Trade Levels-Survey

    East Africa Business Week: For the third year running, the Pan-African Private Sector Trade and Investment Committee (PAFTRAC) have partnered with African Business magazine for the Africa CEO Trade Survey. Read more

    WTO strikes global trade deals after ‘roller coaster’ talks

    Reuters: The World Trade Organization agreed on the first change to global trading rules in years on Friday as well as a deal to boost the supply of COVID-19 vaccines in a series of pledges that were heavy on compromise. Read more

    Commonwealth leaders set to meet for first time in four years

    Commonwealth: Leaders from 54 countries will gather in Kigali, Rwanda, this week for the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the sixth time the event has been hosted by an African country. The week-long summit is expected to attract over 5,000 participants from government, business, and civil society under the theme ‘Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming’. Read more

    NI Protocol: UK reveals plans to ditch parts of EU Brexit deal

    BBC: The UK government has published plans to get rid of parts of the post-Brexit deal it agreed with the EU in 2019.It wants to change the Northern Ireland Protocol to make it easier for some goods to flow from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Read more

    EU set to take legal action against UK over post-Brexit deal changes

    BBC: The EU is expected to launch legal action against the UK government on Wednesday over its decision to scrap some post-Brexit trade arrangements. Ministers insist current checks on some goods travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland must end to avoid harm to the peace process. Read more

    EU refuses to rule out suspending Brexit trade deal

    Euronews: The European Commission won’t rule out suspending the EU-UK trade deal if the UK approves a draft bill that unilaterally overrides parts of the Brexit agreement. Read more

    European Commission backs Ukraine for EU candidate status

    Al Jazeera: Commission gives a fast-tracked opinion on membership of the bloc before a summit of EU leaders on June 23-24. Read more

    EU signs gas deal with Israel and Egypt

    Al Jazeera: The European Union, Israel and Egypt have signed a tripartite natural gas export deal as the bloc seeks to diversify away from Russian energy. Read more

    STRAIGHT FROM THE WTO

    NEW ON THE CTLD BLOG

    The Caribbean Trade & Development Digest is a weekly trade news digest produced and published by the Caribbean Trade Law & Development Blog. Liked this issue? To read past issues, please visit here. To receive these mailings directly to your inbox, please subscribe to our Blog below:

    ← Back

    Thank you for your response. ✨

  • An uphill climb?  International Trade for Boosting Post-COVID-19 Growth in Least Developed Countries

    Lucius S.J. Doxerie – Guest contributor

    Lucius S.J. Doxerie

    The Covid-19 pandemic severely impacted/devasted the economies of countries that have been classified as ‘least developed’ by the international arena. It has prompted me to take a closer look at the ideation of resilience amid global shocks and market failures.

    The aim of this brief article is to examine the role of trade in boosting economic growth of least developed countries (LDCs) such as Haiti, Liberia and Timor-Leste. Special attention will be diverted to the type of preferential treatment received and the trade policies needed to increase the growth prospects in a post-Covid period. We first need to highlight the current situation with regard to trade amongst LDC countries as underscored by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and will posit possible solutions to facilitate an amelioration of trade.

    According to (WTO 2022:5) “The top ten LDC exporters represented more than 80 per cent of LDC merchandise exports in 2011; this declined to 73 per cent in 2020. LDC exports continue to be concentrated in five major destination markets: China, the European Union, the United States, India and Thailand.”.

    As early as the 1930’s, discussion around the benefits of lessening restrictions to international trade and investment was actively happening among countries. In 1948, an international agreement was established among countries to reduce barriers to trade. After eight rounds of meetings, a General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was formed, and in 1995, the World Trade Ogranisation (WTO) was established. The WTO is an international trade governing body that is tasked with monitoring, enforcing and liberalizing trade amongst countries (Suranovic 2010).

    The key reasons why countries trade is summed up below.

    1. Differences in technology (Ricardian theory of comparative advantage)
    2. Differences in resource endowments (Pure exchange model of trade and Heckscher-Ohlin factor proportions model)
    3. Differences in demand (Monopolistic model)
    4. Existence of economies of scale in production (Increasing returns to scale)
    5. Existence of government policies among countries

    In the reality, trade takes place for many reasons. There is no single model or theory that captures all the reasons. For example, the Ricardian model, which focuses on the differences in technology among countries posits that everyone benefits from trade whereas on the other hand the Heckscher-Ohlin model suggests differences in endowments are the reason for trade and that there will be losers and winners. These traditional trade theories illustrate a myopic justification for trading as countries trade for a myriad of reasons. According to experts like Suranovic, most of these theories of trade are very simplistic in nature and generate unrealistic assumptions.  

    So let’s now discuss, especially in consideration of the quote below:

     “Least developed countries (LDCs) have been recognized by the United Nations since 1971 as the category of the states, which are deemed highly disadvantaged in their development process, for structural, historical and also geographical reasons”(Białowąs and Budzyńska 2022:1).

    As early as 1979, least developed countries have been receiving preferential treatment from advanced economies as part of the Tokyo round of the GATT. These preferences fall under what is coined the generalised system of preferences (GSP). As such, they have enjoyed exclusive schemes geared at entry into the markets of advanced economies by removing barriers such as tariffs and quotas from the early 2000s (Klasen et al. 2016).

    According to the WTO, “the Istanbul Programme of Action for LDCs (IPoA) for the decade 2011 to 2020 identified trade as one of the eight priority areas of actions for the economic growth and sustainable development of least-developed countries”(WTO 2022:3).

    Trade as a percentage of the Gross domestic Product (GDP) for LDC’s since the year 2000 is reflected below in figure 0.1.

    Source: http://data.worldbank.org

    The graph above illustrates that trade as a percentage of GDP for LDCs rose steadily from as early as 2003 up until the financial crisis in 2008. A downward pattern continued for another eight years until 2016, then there was improvement. However due to the Cocid-19 pandemic a downward movement has been evidenced since.

    The graph below illustrates the latest statistics of the LDCs share of world exports.

    Source (WTO 2022)

    We can clearly see that there was steady expansion of exports between 2017-2019. After the pandemic, there was a sharp decline of .04%, falling way below the expected target set by IPoA. (WTO 2022) shows that LDCs have seen declines over the last ten years in merchandise exports in all areas except clothing.  Although LDCs received preferential treatment, not all goods and services exported are covered (Antimiani and Cernat 2021).

    So what does this all mean, and what’s the bottom line?

    There is clear evidence supporting the WTO’s preferential treatment towards increasing  the revenues and economic prosperity of LDCs (Antimiani and Cernat 2021). Notably, there is still room for further easing of  trade barriers especially due to the shocks created by the pandemic. This is further underpinned by larger regional trade blocks emerging amongst developed countries undermining the efforts of the WTO (Palit 2015).  A 2016 paper carried out by (Klasen et al. 2016:5) using econometric techniques highlighted that “only Canada’s, Australia’s and EU’s trade preference systems have a positive and significant impact on LDCs’ exports”. Therefore, the following recommendations are proffered in the interest of economic uptake and growth through trade for LDCs.

    1. Establish regional trade agreements among LDCs to help increase their market share.
    2. Provide concessions for value added goods from LDCs within the global value chain for finished products exported by WTO members
    3. Increase the unilateral agreements enjoyed by LDCs  especially duty and quota free access to world markets on a wider range of products
    4. Increase the production and institutional capacity of LDCs by providing technical support to their industries
    5. Improve the LDC service waiver allowing it to cover more areas within the service industries

    These recommendations will allow LDCs to improve their trade practices, have more standardized procedures, facilate growth of local sectors which, in turn will increase the overall welfare of the economy and the people post covid.

    Note: Multiple WTO reports, textbooks and journals from industry experts were utilized in the writing of this article.

    Lucius S.J. Doxerie is an aspiring economist and co-founder and CEO of Stratagem Paradigms Inc.  He is a Chevening Scholar currently enrolled at the University of Bradford completing a Master of Science in Economics and Finance for Development. 

    REFERENCES

    Antimiani, A. and Cernat, L. (2021) Untapping the full development potential of trade along global supply chains: ‘gvcs for ldcs’ proposal. Journal of world trade 55 (5), 697-714.

    Białowąs, T. and Budzyńska, A. (2022) The Importance of Global Value Chains in Developing Countries’ Agricultural Trade Development. Sustainability 14 (3), 1389.

    Klasen, S., Martínez-Zarzoso, I., Nowak-Lehmann, F. and Bruckner, N. (2016) Trade preferences for least developed countries. Are they effective? Preliminary Econometric Evidence. Policy Review 4.

    Palit, A. (2015) Mega-RTAs and LDCs: Trade is not for the poor. Geoforum 58, 23-26.

    Suranovic, S. (2010) International trade: Theory and policy. The Saylor Foundation.

    WTO (2022) Boosting Trade Opportunities for Least Developed Countries. WTO. https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/boottradeopp22_e.htm Accessed 22/03/22.

  • UPR 2022 Lewis Memorial Lecture Fund Request + VIth GORDON K. LEWIS & SYBIL FARRELL-LEWIS MEMORIAL LECTURE – Thursday, April 21, 2022

    UPR 2022 Lewis Memorial Lecture Fund Request + VIth GORDON K. LEWIS & SYBIL FARRELL-LEWIS MEMORIAL LECTURE – Thursday, April 21, 2022

    VIth GORDON K. LEWIS & SYBIL FARRELL-LEWIS MEMORIAL LECTURE

    Thursday, April 21, 2022

    2:00pm-4:00pm EST

     

    To honor the memory of Gordon K. Lewis and Sybil Farrell-Lewis, the 6th Memorial Lecture will be held on Thursday, April 21, 2022, at 2:00 pm (San Juan time, UTC-4) as part of the 30th series of the “Conferencias Caribeñas” (Caribbean Lectures).

     

    Our Keynote Speaker for the 6th Memorial Lecture will be Dr. Franklin W. Knight (Jamaica), the Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Professor (Emeritus) of History at Johns Hopkins University.

     

    He will present the lecture:

    “Gordon K. Lewis and the Development of the Field of Caribbean Studies”

     

    You are invited to join us via Zoom, or YouTube for this event.

     

    You may register for the Zoom webinar at:

    https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pNEOwBu1RX6wD1qHI5TU4w

     

    Youtube transmission:

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqpZUsp1fhBfItDy1dp9tVA

     

    All Memorial Lectures can be accessed at:

    Lewis Memorial Lectures

     

    The Lewis Family has established the ICS Lewis Annual Memorial Lecture Fund, we invite you to donate at the GoFundMe account that you may access at:

    https://www.gofundme.com/f/upr-lewis-annual-memorial-lecture-fund?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1