1 / 14

CARICOM’s Orientation in External Trade Negotiations:

CARICOM’s Orientation in External Trade Negotiations:. Dr. Claudius Preville*. Regional Integration and Economic Growth. Paper presented at the International Conference on Small States and Economic Resilience, University of Malta, Valetta, Malta. April 23-25, 2007. OUTLINE. INTRODUCTION

summer
Download Presentation

CARICOM’s Orientation in External Trade Negotiations:

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. CARICOM’s Orientation in External Trade Negotiations: Dr. Claudius Preville* Regional Integration and Economic Growth Paper presented at the International Conference on Small States and Economic Resilience, University of Malta, Valetta, Malta. April 23-25, 2007

  2. OUTLINE • INTRODUCTION • REGIONAL INTEGRATION THEORY • CARICOM’s EXPERIENCE • PATTERN OF TRADE • GROWTH PERFORMANCE • EXTERNAL TRADE ORIENTATION • GROWTH AND TRADE POLICY • CONCLUDING REMARKS

  3. CARICOM – Caribbean Community and Common Market; 15 members; Notified under GATT Art. XXIV October 1974; Active FTA negotiations with EU; Existing FTAs – Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Cuba; FTAs contemplated with: USA, MERCOSUR, Canada; USA and Canada interested in renewing non-reciprocals; Little progress with MERCOSUR; Paraguay holding out on renewal of CBI; CARIBCAN seems ok; INTRODUCTION

  4. INTRODUCTION • GDP – $ 50.7 Bn; • Per capita – $8,112; • Inflation < 5%; • Trinidad and Tobago main growth pole; • Growth driven by: Services; Agriculture; and Manufacturing;

  5. Countries come together to create an economic bloc; FTA; Customs Union; Common Market; Economic Union; Rationale for integration: Expand economic space, increase efficiency via specialization, exploit scale economies and common governance; Security; REGIONAL INTEGRATION THERORY

  6. REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN PRACTICE • WTO GATT Article XXIV – Countries must liberalize tariffs on substantially all the trade among members of the integrating bloc; • Substantially all the trade commonly means 90 percent or more; • In FTAs between WTO members further liberalization must take place, incl. other restrictions on commerce;

  7. CARIFESTA; LIAT (1974); WISCO; ENLARGEMENT – HAITI (2002); CSME; SINGLE SPACE INITIATIVE (CWC); REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN PRACTICE

  8. IMPORTS Machinery and Transport Equip.29.3% - US; EU; ASIA; Manufactured goods –US, EU, CSME; Mineral fuels and lubricants – LAIA; M = USD 10 BN; EXPORTS Mineral fuels – 29.7% - US, CSME, other Caribbean; Food – 17.5% - EU, CSME, US; Chemicals – US, EU, CSME; X = USD 6.6BN; PATTERN OF TRADE - GOODS

  9. IMPORTS Commercial Services 39% - US; EU; ASIA; Transport -34% – US, EU, CSME; Travel – US, EU, CSME; M = USD 3.97BN; CS=1.55; TN= 1.35; EXPORTS Travel – 72.4 %; - US, EU, CSME, other Caribbean; Commercial Services -Food – 14.9 - EU, CSME, US; Transport – US, EU, CSME; X = USD 6.98BN; TR = 5.05; CS=1.04; PATTERN OF TRADE - SERVICES

  10. CHART - SERVICES

  11. GROWTH PERFORMANCE • GDP (1999) = USD 17.7BN; • GROWTH (1999/98) = 3.2%; • UNEVEN; • CONTRACTION – Jamaica, Montserrat, Guyana; • Manufacturing sector weak; • Trinidad – major growth pole – oil and gas; • Others – Services; Light manufacturing;

  12. GENERALLY Defensive; Exclusions; Long Phasing; Development assistance; Non-reciprocal preferences; Services – more offensive; WTO – SVEs work programme; Redressing imbalance from UR; Market access v development; Importance of policy space; Contribution less than other developing countries; TRADE ORIENTATION

  13. GROWTH AND TRADE POLICY • Services – main driver of economic growth for most members; • Distributive trade very important in services; • Liberal import regime enables growth of the manufacturing-oriented members; • But, fiscal reform is necessary as a pre-condition;

  14. CONCLUDING REMARKS • Economic integration, as is being pursued through the CSME process can maximize efficiency by encouraging specialization according to comparative advantage, resulting in higher levels of economic growth for all; • But, more liberal trade policy is needed especially in Services and fiscal reform ahead of liberalization in manufacturing;

More Related