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  • Caribbean Trade & Development Digest – October 28 – November 3, 2018

    Caribbean Trade & Development Digest – October 28 – November 3, 2018

    Welcome to the Caribbean Trade & Development Digest for the week of October 28-November 3, 2018! We are happy to bring you the major trade and development headlines and analysis from across the Caribbean Region and the world from the past week.

    THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

    Caribbean trade officials and experts met in Guyana this week to discuss emerging trade issues, while Barbados hosted Africa, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) private sector consultations.  On the Brexit front, business leaders in the UK are calling for a new EU referendum. The EU is reportedly revising its WTO reform proposals released in September in order to gain US support.

    Please have a read of the week’s other headlines below:

    REGIONAL

    What’s at stake as EU, Africa, Caribbean, Pacific, negotiate new accord

    Devex: After years of preparation and posturing, negotiations on the new relationship between the European Union and 79 African, Caribbean, and Pacific states are finally underway. Read more 

    OECD support on economic citizenship programmes unreasonable, says OECS

    Caribbean News Now: The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Authority, the highest decision-making body of the nine-member sub-regional bloc, has responded to the recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report that listed five of its members for tax evasion concerns with regard their citizenship by investment (CBI) programmes. Read more 

    OECS to establish a diplomatic presence in Africa

    Searchlight: Eastern Caribbean States will soon have a strong diplomatic presence on the world’s second largest continent, Africa. This decision was made on Tuesday, during the 66th meeting of the OECS Authority, which took place in St Vincent and the Grenadines at Beachcombers Hotel. Read more 

    OECS to hold Blue Economy Seminars in Member States

    St Lucia Online: Transitioning to a Blue Economy is critical to ensuring continued economic growth in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), given that the marine space of small island states is significantly larger than their land mass and clearly a substantial asset. Read more 

    TCI needs UK letter of approval to start APIS with CARICOM

    Magnetic Media: The United Kingdom has to give the Turks and Caicos permission to continue on its path to having APIS or the Advanced Passenger Information System with its country partners in CARICOM. Read more 

    Caribbean countries discuss global trade challenges

    Commonwealth: Caribbean countries of the Commonwealth met in Georgetown, Guyana this week to deliberate on how to respond to major shifts in the global trade landscape. Read more 

    Guyana trade mission jets into Aberdeen

    Energy Voice: A trade mission from Guyana will visit Aberdeen later this month to foster business links with north-east oil and gas companies. Read more 

    Guyana/China MOU signals “unfettered” partnership in every possible area

    Kaieteur News: Finally, the APNU+AFC Government has released the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, signed with China to facilitate the infamous Belt and Road Initiative. The MOU was signed on July 27, last. Read more 

    CARICOM countries join call for US to lift embargo against Cuba

    RJR: Two days after the House of Representatives in Jamaica approved a resolution calling for the lifting of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on Cuba by the US, other CARICOM countries have taken a similar stance. Read more 

    INTERNATIONAL

    Vietnam is winning the US-China trade war

    Foreign Policy: The facts on the ground are clear; Vietnam, once dependent on garments and other cheap exports, has begun to rival China’s tech sector. And with Asian businesspeople increasingly resigned to a protracted trade war between Washington and Beijing, firms are more eager than ever to escape tariffs by relocating to China’s smaller southern neighbor. Read more

    Pacific-Rim trade deal to kick in December

    CBC (Canada): U.S. President Donald Trump tried to kill it, but the Trans-Pacific Partnership wouldn’t stay dead. Less than two years after the U.S. withdrew from the landmark Pacific Rim trade deal it once saw as key to an Asian trade strategy, six of the remaining countries have ratified it. Read more 

    Future economy minister says Mercosur is not a priority for Bolsonaro

    Mercopress: Mercosur is not a priority, and Argentina is not a priority for the new government of Brazil, the priority is to trade with all the world. The strong statement came from Paulo Guedes, signaled as the next Finance minister of president elect Jair Bolsonaro’s cabinet and a crucial player in that team since the newly elected leader has admitted a limited knowledge of economics. Read more 

    US attacks UK plan for digital services tax on tech giants 

    BBC: The US has hit back against a UK plan to impose a new tax on sales by technology giants. Read more

    US, China ‘not on the cusp of’ trade deal: White House advisor

    Reuters: The United States and China are not close to a deal to resolve their trade differences, the White House’s top economic adviser said on Friday, adding that he was less optimistic than previously that such an agreement would come together. Read more

    USTR to hold hearing in December over trade talks with Japan

    Japan Times: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will hold a hearing on Dec. 10 regarding bilateral trade negotiations with Japan that Washington plans to launch in mid-January, according to the Federal Register. Read more

    Trump vows close ties with Brazil’s Bolsonaro on trade, military

    Reuters: The United States will work closely with Brazil on trade and military issues following Jair Bolsonaro’s presidential election victory, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday. Read more 

    Alibaba launched Africa’s first electronic trade platform

    Africa News: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Wednesday launched Africa’s first Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) at a special ceremony in Kigali, Rwanda. Read more 

    Critics of EU-Mercosur deal name conditions for support

    Swissinfo.ch: A coalition of Swiss farming organisations, consumers and NGOs says it is in favour of a free trade agreement between Switzerland and the four Mercosur countries: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. But it is demanding binding criteria concerning sustainability.  Read more 

    Continental free trade agreement bodes well for future of trade policy across Africa

    Business Day: On March 21 2018, 44 African countries signed the African Union’s continental free trade agreement (Acfta). The AU aims to use the agreement as a conduit for the creation of a single market and customs union on the continent, akin to the trade blocs established by the EU. Read more 

    EU-Africa trade will only blossom when all are treated as equals

    The East African: China’s use of trade and investment links to expand its influence in Africa is fuelling growing concern in some European capitals. But, instead of complaining about China’s activities, the European Union should be deepening its own engagement with the continent. Read more 

    Nigeria is set to host Africa Trade Forum 2018

    African Review: The Africa Trade Forum 2018, set to take place on 2-3 November 2018 in Lagos, will discuss the process for realising the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Read more 

    Dairy farmers ‘very disappointed’ with USMCA

    South Western Ontario:  Very disappointing was how Dairy Farmers of Ontario spokesperson Ralph Dietrich described the pending United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. Read more 

    Commonwealth concerned at technological gap in trade

    St. Lucia Online: A senior official of the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat says efforts are being made to bridge the technological gap in trade. Read more

    RP-US bilateral trade agreement

    Manila Standard: As the Philippines is about to renew its bilateral trade agreement with the US, President Duterte has expressed concern that concluding a free trade agreement with the US might jeopardize our bilateral relations with China and with the Asean where we currently enjoy robust trade relations. Read more 

    India, China to undertake joint research on WTO reforms

    Economic Times: India and China Thursday agreed to undertake joint research in the areas of WTO reforms, urbanisation and frontier technologies with a view to enhancing economic cooperation between the countries, an official statement said. Read more

    Report: EU trade agreements deliver on growth and jobs, support sustainable development

    EU: According to the second annual report about the implementation of trade agreements issued today, these agreements – covering nearly 70 markets all over the world – are proving effective in removing barriers to trade and promoting high standards of labour and environment protection. Read more 

    Brexit: Relations ‘fraying’ between Britain and Ireland

    BBC: The Irish prime minister says Brexit is fraying relations between Ireland and Britain. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it had also “undermined” the Good Friday Agreement (GFA). Read more 

    Brexit: Business leaders call for new EU referendum

    BBC: More than 70 business leaders have signed a letter to the Sunday Times calling for a public vote on the UK’s Brexit deal. Read more 

    Minister Pato signs ACP administrative cooperative agreement

    ACP Secretariat: Papua New Guinea has taken steps to strengthen and deepen its Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU and other ACP states that have similar trading arrangements. Read more 

    EU Revises Plan to Fix WTO in Bid to Get U.S. on Board

    Bloomberg: The European Union is revamping its plan to reform the World Trade Organization in an effort to win support from the U.S., according to two people briefed on the process. Read more 

    Women-supporting trade policies need better data, experts say

    UNCTAD: The idea that governments around the world must support women as traders, workers and entrepreneurs to drive international commerce has been recognized in several multilateral agendas in recent years, but experts say that a data gap needs to be filled before the most effective policies can be designed. Read more 

    WTO members discuss implementation of the Information Technology Agreement

    WTO: Implementation issues concerning India and China were flagged once more at the Committee meeting. WTO members raised concerns about the import duties that India has introduced on mobile phones and their parts, which members consider to be covered by the ITA. Read more

    Panels established to examine Pakistani duties on film, Korean duties on steel

    WTO: At a meeting of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on 29 October, WTO members agreed to a request from the United Arab Emirates for the establishment of a panel to examine anti-dumping duties imposed by Pakistan on biaxially oriented polypropylene from the UAE as well as a request from Japan for a panel to examine anti-dumping duties imposed on stainless steel bar from Japan. Read more

    White House officials are pushing back on the idea that a trade deal with China is imminent

    CNBC: For a brief moment Friday, there was optimism in the market that the Trump administration was getting closer to a trade deal with China. But administration officials are telling CNBC that there is no indication of an imminent agreement. Read more 

    RCEP nations unlikely to reach agreement this year

    Japan Times: The 16 mostly Asian countries negotiating what will be the world’s largest free trade area might not be able to achieve their target of a substantive deal by the year’s end, an official source familiar with the talks has said. Read more

    Philippines, Japan eye inclusion of e-commerce

    Business Inquirer: Japan might include e-commerce under its free trade deal with the Philippines as both sides review the merits of the nearly decade-old agreement. Read more

    NEW ON CTLD BLOG

    Jamaica remains easiest place in CARICOM to do business, according to World Bank Doing Business Report 2019

    Could Promoting Bilingualism Give Caribbean Countries a Trade and Investment Advantage?

    The Caribbean Trade & Development Digest is a weekly trade news digest 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 follow our blog.

  • Jamaica remains easiest place in CARICOM to do business, according to World Bank Doing Business Report 2019

    Jamaica remains easiest place in CARICOM to do business, according to World Bank Doing Business Report 2019

    Alicia Nicholls

    Jamaica has maintained its spot as the easiest place to do business in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the just released World Bank Doing Business Report 2019.  This is the 16th edition of this flagship World Bank publication which objectively ranks 190 economies globally on their ease of doing business based on a number of indicators. The theme of this year’s report is Training for Reform.

    Jamaica has an overall ranking of 75 out of the 190 economies ranked. Of note is that overall, Jamaica also ranked as the 6th easiest place to start a business and 12th in the ease of getting credit. With respect to significant business reforms, the World Bank highlighted Jamaica’s improved access to credit information by distributing data from utility companies.

    No Caribbean country has made the top 50. The rankings of the other Caricom countries are as follows: St. Lucia (93), Dominica (103), Trinidad & Tobago (105), Antigua and Barbuda (112), The Bahamas (118), Belize (125), Barbados (129), St Vincent and the Grenadines (130), Guyana (134), St Kitts and Nevis (140), Grenada (147), Suriname (165) and Haiti (182).

    The Dominican Republic, which is not a CARICOM country but is part of CARIFORUM, has a ranking of 102. Puerto Rico, a Commonwealth of the US, is the Caribbean region’s easiest place to do business, with a ranking of 64.

    Globally, New Zealand was ranked the easiest place to do business (1), while Somalia was ranked as the least (190). Turning to small States, Singapore was ranked second, while Mauritius continued its upward climb, with a current rank of 20th.

    The World Bank reported a record 314 regulatory reforms between June 2, 2017 and May 1, 2018. Some 128 economies introduced ‘substantial regulatory improvements’ which made doing business easier in all areas measured. The following economies internationally were singled out as having made the most improvement: Afghanistan, Djibouti, China, Azerbaijan, India, Togo, Kenya, Cote D’Ivoire, Turkey and Rwanda.  

    The full World Bank Doing Business Report 2019 may be accessed 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.

  • Caribbean Trade & Development Digest – October 21 – 27, 2018

    Caribbean Trade & Development Digest – October 21 – 27, 2018

    Welcome to the Caribbean Trade & Development Digest for the week of October 21-27, 2018! We are happy to bring you the major trade and development headlines and analysis from across the Caribbean Region and the world from the past week.

    THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

    The main headline this week was the Ottawa Ministerial Meeting on World Trade Organisation (WTO) reform held in Ottawa, Canada, from October 24-25 and chaired by Canada’s Minister of Trade International Trade Diversification, the Honourable Jim Carr. Ministers and Heads of Delegation from thirteen other ‘likeminded’ countries joined with Canada to discuss proposals on the way forward for strengthening and modernising the world’s multilateral trade body. The WTO’s Director General Roberto Azevedo also attended the meeting at the invitation of the organisers. The joint communique from this meeting may be found here. Canada has also released a discussion paper with its ideas for WTO reform, which may be found here.

    Please have a read of the week’s other headlines below:

    REGIONAL

    Phillips Says Global Anti-Immigration Policies A Threat To Caribbean Progress

    Jamaica Gleaner: Opposition Leader and People’s National Party (PNP) President Dr Peter Phillips today warned that Caribbean progress was under threat from a rise in anti-immigration policies in rich countries. Read more 

    The Dominican Republic helps mango producers double exports

    FreshPlaza: The Dominican Government through the Ministry of Agriculture and the Special Fund for Agricultural Development (FEDA) contributed more than 130 million pesos for the construction and equipping of a modern hydrothermal treatment plant to the Banileja Association of Mango Producers (ABAPROMANGO) with the objective of doubling fruit exports next year. Read more

    CARICOM Secretariat releases biodiversity management score card

    Caribbean News Now: The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has recorded a significant milestone with the release of a report on the state of biodiversity management in the region. Read more

    Why British trade with Africa, Caribbean and Pacific nations can boom after Brexit

    Gov.UK: UK Trade Policy Minister, George Hollingbery, spoke in Brussels to representatives from the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states on why British trade with ACP nations can boom after Brexit. Read here.

    RI takes first jab at Indonesia-Caribbean relations

    The Jakarta Post: Following President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s orders to explore non-traditional trade markets, the government has moved to facilitate business-to-business talks between Indonesia and 15 countries joined in Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Read more 

    Taiwanese business delegation visits St Lucia for investment and trade opportunities

    Caribbean News Now: A business delegation from Taiwan arrived in Saint Lucia on October 24, 2018, to explore investment opportunities and engage potential business partners in Saint Lucia. Read more 

    CTO Secretary General says complacency puts Caribbean people and economies at risk

    Caribbean360: Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Hugh Riley has called on Caribbean states to take tsunami preparedness seriously, stating to do otherwise would put the people and regional economies at risk. Read more

    IMF says recovery in Latin America and the Caribbean has lost momentum

    Caribbean360: The International Monetary Fund’s Regional Economic Outlook for the Western Hemisphere has marked down its growth forecasts for Latin America and the Caribbean to 1.2 per cent in 2018 and 2.2 per cent in 2019, from the May 2018 forecasts of 2.0 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively. Read more

    INTERNATIONAL

    Vanuatu Trade Policy Review

    WTO: The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu had its first review of its trade policies and practices which took place October 23 and 25. Read more 

    Asia-Europe Meetings Close With Calls for Supporting WTO, Multilateralism

    ICTSD Bridges: The 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) came to a close last week in Brussels, Belgium, where leaders from 51 countries examined options for greater cooperation on supporting the multilateral trading system, improving climate action, and otherwise backing multilateralism and shared policy objectives.  Read more 

    EU, US Officials Consider Approaches, Objectives for Trade Negotiating Outcomes

    ICTSD Bridges: Three months after US and EU leaders agreed to launch an “Executive Working Group” to tackle a series of trade issues, questions over how future talks will proceed and what those efforts will cover substantively remain, with trade officials offering differing public assessments in recent weeks. Read more 

    Russia seeks to capitalise on Brexit after blocking Liam Fox’s WTO plan

    The Guardian: Russia is among 20 countries that are looking to squeeze a commercial advantage from Brexit after blocking an attempt by the international trade secretary, Liam Fox, to fast-track a World Trade Organization deal on the UK’s terms of trade with the world. Read more 

    UK signals failure of bid for quick Brexit transition at WTO

    Reuters: Britain signalled on Thursday that its attempt to seal terms for its post-Brexit membership of the World Trade Organization by a fast-track procedure had failed, and it must now enter negotiations which are likely to be lengthy. Read more 

    DDG Wolff: “It is essential that the WTO adapts to future changes in world trade”

    WTO: In a lecture delivered to the Academy of Economic Studies in Chișinău, Moldova, on 24 October 2018, Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff said that much in the world of trade will change going forward, largely due to the emergence of new technologies. Read more 

    Subsidies Committee members express concerns on lack of notifications

    WTO: Members of the WTO’s Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures expressed concerns at their special meeting on 23 October about the failure of many members to notify the Committee of subsidy programmes. Read more

    Canada ratifies Pacific rim deal 

    CTV: A bill to enact a new trade pact with Pacific Rim countries has passed the legislative finish line, making Canada one of the first countries to ratify the 11-country deal. Read more 

    Chilean Senate approves deepening of free trade agreement with China

    Santiago Times: This week the Chilean Senate approved the protocol of deepening the Free Trade Agreement with China, a fact that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Ampuero, described as “very good news.” Read more 

    Will Trump push for an ‘America first’ trade agreement in Asia modelled on his new Nafta deal?

    South China Morning Post: US President Donald Trump seeks to redefine all major free-trade agreements on the basis of US economic and geopolitical leverage. In these efforts, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is likely to serve as a blueprint. Read more 

    EU and Indonesia complete sixth round of negotiations for a trade agreement

    EU: The sixth round of negotiations for an EU-Indonesia free trade agreement took place from 15 to 19 October in Palembang, Indonesia. Read more 

    The Caribbean Trade & Development Digest is a weekly trade news digest 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 follow our blog.

  • Could Promoting Bilingualism Give Caribbean Countries a Trade and Investment Advantage?

    Could Promoting Bilingualism Give Caribbean Countries a Trade and Investment Advantage?

    Alicia Nicholls

    What do Mauritius, Malaysia, and Singapore have in common? Besides being examples of highly competitive emerging economies, these countries have multilingual populations which they proudly count as part of their country’s competitive advantage.

    Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, recently announced his government’s hope to adopt Spanish as a second language given the longstanding and growing importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) from Spain to Jamaica’s economy. Spanish chains are a growing presence in Jamaica’s tourism, wellness and construction  sectors and have injected US$1.7 billion in Jamaica’s tourist industry, according to the Prime Minister in his speech.

    Similar statements on the need for improving our populations’ language competencies have also been made by current and previous Commonwealth Caribbean governments. Could the promotion of bilingualism give our hitherto monolingual Commonwealth Caribbean countries a trade and investment edge in an increasingly interconnected global marketplace?

     ‘Everyone speaks English!” Or do they?

    I am not aware of any data on the rates of bilingualism (that is, proficiency in two or more languages) in the Commonwealth Caribbean. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that aside from local dialects, anglophone Caribbean countries have mostly monolingual (one language) populations.

    It is not uncommon to hear some persons strongly proclaim “everyone speaks English, so why must I learn another language?”. Though English is currently the most learnt second language internationally, this chart from the World Economic Forum shows that English is actually the third most spoken mother tongue in the world, with 372 million first-language speakers in 2017. The second most spoken language was Spanish, with 437 million speakers. But the most spoken was Chinese (Mandarin) with 1,284 million speakers, which is not surprising given the population of China.

    While the English language has been the global lingua franca since the 20th century, it has not always been, and it may not always be either given China’s growing economic dominance and promotion of its culture and language.  In recognition of this fact, China Daily has reported that there is growing interest in western countries for learning Mandarin. In Russia, for example, the number of Chinese language learners has reportedly increased from 17,000 in 2007 to 56,000 in 2017 and Mandarin is now an elective language in that country’s national college entrance examination.

    That aside, the Commonwealth Caribbean is surrounded not only by its Spanish, French and Dutch speaking Caribbean island neighbors, but also Spanish-speaking Latin American countries and Portuguese-speaking Brazil, which present still largely undertapped export and tourist markets.

    Bilingualism enhances labour force quality

    There is a corpus of research highlighting the cognitive, psychological and social advantages to human beings learning a second language. These include sharpened memory, improved decision-making skills, multi-tasking capability, problem-solving and mental dexterity. Knowledge of another language also increases a person’s employability, cultural sensitivity, earning potential and labour market opportunities. As a multilingual person, I can personally attest to the doors which knowledge of other languages have opened for me professionally.

    Internationally, employers’ demand for bilingual persons has increased not only as trade with other countries has increased, but because of the recognition by firms of the benefits to their export strategies of employing bilingual persons. A report of March 2017 by New American Economy found that demand for bilingual workers in the US is growing at both the higher and lower ends of the employment spectrum. This is further supported by a report by the Economic Intelligence Unit, which surveyed 572 executives globally and found that organisations with international ambitions were increasingly expecting prospective employees to be fluent in key foreign languages.

    Taken as a whole, improving a population’s language competency makes for a more attractive labour force to international investors. This advantage has not gone unrecognized by some countries. Mauritius, whose population speaks French, English and French Creole, proudly touts its bilingual population as one of its unique selling points as a place for international business. In Switzerland, which has four national languages, a report from 2008 estimated that country’s linguistic advantage as equivalent to about 9% of its GDP.

    In an increasingly interconnected world, I believe monolingualism will put our human resource, which is our greatest resource, at a distinct disadvantage in attracting international investment and tourism.

    Bilingualism/Biculturalism as Business Advantages in Cross-Border Transactions

    Effective communication is essential to the success of cross-border deals, which means that linguistic and cultural differences are frequent barriers to cross-border trade and investment. The previously mentioned report by the Economic Intelligence Unit found that “misunderstandings rooted in cultural differences present the greatest obstacle to productive cross-border collaboration”. For instance, a handshake or kiss on the cheek may be perfectly acceptable in one culture, but may cause offense in another.

    A UK-based report also found that “over time the trade cost to the UK resulting from language barriers has varied in magnitude, but has been consistently large.”  While I am unaware of similar research conducted in the Commonwealth Caribbean, anecdotal evidence shows that this may also be the case here as well.

    It is not uncommon for some businesses seeking to export to feel that it is not necessary to invest in developing a multilingual strategy or capacity given the increasing availability and accuracy, for example, of online translation services. However, online translation services miss subtle cultural nuances, which may be fatal when engaging in cross-border business negotiations, especially with enterprises from ‘high context cultures’. ‘High context’ is the term used in international business to describe those cultures which place greater emphasis on context, non-verbal cues and on interpersonal relations when conducting business. Examples would be most African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries. ‘Low context’ cultures usually rely mainly on verbal cues, and interpersonal relationships have less importance in the business context. These cultures include many Western European countries, the US and Canada.

    In the Commonwealth Caribbean most of our international trade is currently with low context cultures with which we share cultural, linguistic and historical ties. But, as our firms seek to diversify, and as China (a high context culture) expands its economic footprint in the region, there will be need for greater understanding of the Chinese language and culture.

    Prior knowledge of the language and cultural norms of a target export market is also invaluable when conducting market research into the business, legal and regulatory environment of that potential export market.

    Bilingualism can foster wider Caribbean integration

    Promoting bilingualism can foster closer Caribbean integration. By accident of geography, the Caribbean Region is divided by water. By accident of history, these divisions are furthered by language. However, greater linguistic and cultural awareness among our islands can bridge these divisions.

    As an example, the French-speaking island of Martinique is one of the top tourist source markets for St. Lucia, its neighbor just 40 miles to the south.  Its tourist and business ties with Martinique are facilitated not just by geography and reliable transportation links, but also the mutual intelligibility of the Martinican and St. Lucian creoles and some shared cultural similarities. St. Lucia, nicknamed Helen of the West, changed colonial hands fourteen times between France and England, giving the island a unique culture and patois which is a mélange of its French and English colonial roots.

    A new programme called the Trade Enhancement for the Eastern Caribbean (TEECA) programme seeks to promote trade and investment between Member States of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Martinique, which became an OECS associate member in 2015. The success of this programme will undoubtedly hinge on OECS firms seeking to create or expand business with those in Martinique having an understanding of the Martinican cultural, business and legal context and knowledge of the French language.

    Building a Bilingual Advantage

    Promoting greater language competency among our populations could bring trade and investment advantages to Caribbean countries which rely disproportionately on their human resource. While not a panacea, it can provide for a more employable and attractive labour force, facilitate our export market diversification efforts, strengthen integration with the non-anglophone Caribbean and improve trade and investment ties with the wider LAC region

    Of course, creating a bilingual society cannot happen overnight. First of all, we need to determine what language competencies our Governments will seek to promote. Spanish and French are increasingly being taught in Commonwealth Caribbean secondary schools, but should Mandarin also be included on the curriculum?

    Moreover, expanding language instruction at the primary school level would be key, as well as promoting greater cultural exchanges. Languages should not be seen  solely as subjects for study, but as a door to further business opportunities, creating an edge for our people in an increasingly interconnected and competitive global environment.

    As it is firms which trade and not countries, it is incumbent on regional firms to increase their in-house language capacity by employing persons with the linguistic skills and cultural knowledge of their export target markets, and also, where appropriate, invest in developing the language proficiency of their existing staff.

    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.