Caribbean Trade Law and Development

Tag: saint lucia

  • OECS WTO members underwent 4th WTO Trade Policy Review this week

    OECS WTO members underwent 4th WTO Trade Policy Review this week

    Alicia Nicholls

    On May 3-5, 2023, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) completed its fourth review of the trade policies and practices of the six Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) WTO members. These are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The OECS delegation was led by the Honourable Everly Paul Chet Greene, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Antigua and Barbuda, and Chair of the OECS Council of Ministers of Trade. The discussant was Her Excellency Ambassador Nadia Theodore, Permanent Representative of Canada to the WTO.

    WTO members, meeting as the Trade Policy Review Body, reviewed the WTO Secretariat’s Report and the reports from the Governments of those six countries. During the meeting, WTO members had the opportunity to seek clarity from the OECS delegation on various issues relating to their trade policies and practices. The Chairperson’s concluding remarks stated that 24 delegations had taken the floor over the two-day meeting and 169 advance written questions from 12 delegations had been submitted for the review.

    According to the chairperson’s concluding remarks, the OECS members were applauded for “the constructive role that the OECS-WTO Members play in the multilateral trading system” despite their small size. They also received praise for their open trade and investment regimes and strong support of environmental action. However, major concerns raised surrounded implementation of commitments under WTO agreements and the backlog in compliance with their WTO notifications. It was pointed out in the Secretariat report that this was likely because of capacity constraints and the fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The OECS is a regional intergovernmental organisation and subregional integration movement in the Caribbean region which was formed in 1981 with the signing of the Treaty of Basseterre, subsequently revised. All OECS members are members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Besides the six members mentioned (all six are sovereign States), it also includes a non-sovereign full member, Montserrat. These full members are part of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) and therefore share a common currency, the Eastern Caribbean dollar. Its associate members are non-sovereigns: British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Martinique and Guadeloupe.

    The TPR reports are made publicly available and are a rich source of information for trade analysts and potential investors of a country’s trade policies and its general trading and macroeconomic environment. The TPRB chairperson’s concluding remarks are released shortly after. The minutes of the meeting, as well as members questions, are also released about six weeks after the conclusion of the review.

    You can read the report and other documents here.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc, LL.B. is an international trade specialist and founder of the Caribbean Trade Law and Development blog http://www.caribbeantradelaw.com.

  • St. Lucia and Grenada ratify WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

    Alicia Nicholls

    Just a week shy of the commencement of the WTO’s 10th Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, St. Lucia and Grenada became the first states of the Eastern Caribbean Economic Union (ECCU) to ratify the World Trade Organisation’s Trade Facilitation Agreement.

    The TFA, which has the potential to increase global merchandise exports by up to $1 trillion per annum (according to the World Trade Report 2015), aims to expedite the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit and to provide measures for effective cooperation between customs authorities. It is the first WTO agreement to link implementation to countries’ capacity to implement.  In November 2014, WTO members adopted a Protocol of Amendment to insert the TFA Agreement into Annex 1A of the WTO Agreement. Both countries have already notified their Category A commitments pursuant to the Agreement.

    St. Lucia and Grenada also join Trinidad & Tobago, Belize and Guyana to make it a total of five CARICOM states which have ratified the Agreement so far. Late last month Guyana became the 53rd state to ratify.

    For the TFA to enter into force, ratification by two-thirds of the WTO’s membership of 162 is required.This week Cote de Ivoire and Kenya also ratified the Agreement, becoming the fifth and sixth African countries to do so. This brings the number of ratifications to 57 states, which is more than half the number needed for the Agreement to enter into force.

    The ratification by St. Lucia and Grenada are a welcomed development and it is hoped more CARICOM states will follow suit. My article on the benefits of the TFA for small island developing states can be accessed 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. Please note that the views expressed in this article are solely hers. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.