CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana – Tuesday, 20 June 2023): The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is reviewing its trade instruments to make them fit for purpose to facilitate increased trade, agricultural expansion and industrial development beyond 2023. The Community’s main trade instruments are the Common External Tariff (CET) and the Rules of Origin.
Member States and other Regional stakeholders will engage in deliberations in the Seventh Meeting of the Sectoral Working Group to Review the CET and in the Ninth Meeting to Review the Rules of Origin. The Working Groups will meet respectively on 22 and 23 June 2023.
The Working Group on the CET will give further in-depth consideration to the principles underlying the categories and levels of the CET as well as the rates to be applied. The Working Group on the Rules of Origin will seek to finalise several aspects of the working text of the Rules of Origin regime.
All these exercises are to benefit the big$ countries that weaponized the WTO, World Trade Org to practically solidify the dumping of their mass-produced goods. They have created leaders who are not activists, unalived the activists, had these sign to not subsidize their own farming while the U.S, France, Canada etc bullied us allowing themselves; right under our noses prevent many countries, particularly African from feeding themselves; and, to open their markets for the dumping of those goods. Just look around you, at your store shelves etc. It’s dirty, stupid and maliciously implemented while these leaders (who are not activists) except Her Excelency Mia Morley, take their place in the queue for their own demise$, dragging us all along stupidly. We have to take a stand against this bullying and dumping, we must!
There is very little regional goods to tax as we produce too few products regionally. Worse, most of the products made in the Caribbean are of poor quality and too expensive as many of the raw materials have to be sourced from outside the region.
We need to produce much more of what we use and consume. Goods made in the Caribbean should definitely be given preferential treatment in terms of taxation. Our people would be able to have more disposal income to spend or save as they see fit.
However, we prefer to purchase our goods from outside the Caribbean as we have held on to this fallacious notion that foreign is superior than local/ regional.
My padna is not us, ask or research the World Trade Organization on free-trade and fair-trade to find out why we can’t do that. We are dumping grounds. Tthose who don’t sign on or go against the grain are ‘un-alived’ like Magufuli of Tanzania and others.
CARICOM agriculture summit in Guyana – No improvement
CARICOM crime summit in T&T – Deterioration of the crime situation
CARICOM summit of Foreign Ministers in Jamaica – Not a word after
My point is simply this: CARICOM does things with great fanfare lighting up social media. After spending enormous sums of taxpayers’ money to convene these meetings, the results are dismay. There is nothing to crow about. It’s just a colossal waste of money.
I will posit this without any fear of contradiction. Not one of the current rulers deserves his/ her position. They all have failed the region miserably.
It would be so invigorating if only when such bulletins come out from CARICOM, terms would be dissected into smaller digestible units so that the ordinary man understands. It would foster greater participation, and more people in the region would embrace CARICOM, instead of seeing it as a boys club…Re the Common External Tariff, what was the percentage charge for goods originating outside of Caricom? Guess it depends on many factors, but why are we not constantly informed of what Caricom is doing on our behalf. For example i would want to know more about the Caricom Development Fund. Have my country, Dominica, benefitted from it? If yes, when!
I still cant feel what CARICOM is doing to improve the standard of living and quality of life of its member states.