The Trade Negotiating Group is comprised of trade officials from the OECS Member States, representatives of the private sector and the OECS Secretariat.

Its main objective to assist Member States of the OECS in managing their external trade relations by amongst other things facilitating the formulation of positions on external trade negotiations.

The main items that will be discussed at this meeting are: 

• The structure that the CARICOM and the Dominican Republic will adopt for negotiating economic partnership arrangements with the European Union. The negotiations are due to be formally launched on April 16^th in Jamaica.  

• A strategy for proceeding in the stalled FTAA negotiations  

• Considerations for special and differential treatment for the OECS countries in negotiating theatres such as the WTO and the FTAA.

The meeting will also receive updates on initiatives for technical assistance support for strengthening the Secretariat and the Member States in the area of trade policy and negotiating capacity.

This TNG meeting will include a session with representatives from the CARICOM Secretariat, Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery and officials from the Governments of Jamaica and Suriname who requested the opportunity, to discuss the proposed structure for negotiating economic partnership agreements with the European Union.