This follows a recent preparatory meeting for second OECS/WTO Trade Policy Review. During the August 9 to 10 Seminar in St. Lucia, OECS Trade Officials reviewed a draft WTO Trade Policy assessment of its OECS members under review and the impact of other members’ trade policies on the region.

The WTO Secretariat prepared the draft report and the final version of the report must be ready for translation and circulation on August 27, 2007. 

Head of the OECS Economic Affairs Division Randy Cato reflecting on the capacity to deal with the undulating issues of Global Trade theatres noted the progress by OECS WTO Member Countries following the first OECS WTO Trade Policy Review in 2001: “We in the OECS since that period have been able to put in place a number of things which have facilitated our ability to more effectively manage the process is which we are engaged now.”

The need was further expressed for innovative approaches to help alleviate constraints experienced by OECS WTO members in areas such as human resource capacity and finance in handling trade issues. St Lucia’s Minister of Trade Senator Guy Mayers called for a redefined process to ensure that OECS benefits fully from being WTO Members. His comments were in relation to the WTO proposed Aid for Trade (AFT), an issue that has been generating significant interest in the Doha Round of negotiations at the WTO since the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial Meeting in 2005:“There is a tacit understanding of our vulnerability as small island states, for which a case can be made for special and differential treatment.  The fact that our import bill continues to run away from exports  and the gap continues to widen as a consequence of liberalisation  and we witness the continued erosion of preferential trade margins , this makes us a sub-region, prime candidates for any Aid to Trade programme. You notice I did not use the phrase Aid for Trade. I prefer to use the term Aid to Trade. This programme must be practical in addressing supply side constraints at the firm and sector levels in both our traditional areas and in emerging areas, especially in the services sector. It is essential that we rebuild those trading platforms undermined by rapid changes in our traditional markets since the Uruguay round and reestablish the confidence lost among out primary producers; especially our bananas as a direct result of our inability to compete under unfair conditions.”-Mayers. The second WTO review of the trade policies and practices of the OECS countries is scheduled for November 5 & 7 2007 at the offices of the WTO Secretariat in Geneva.