The draft report, which was produced by the WTO Secretariat in July, will be reviewed by the relevant OECS member countries from August 9 to 10 in St. Lucia. The discussions are to provide an opportunity for the WTO general membership to examine the status of implementation of committment to liberalise trade by its members under review and the impact of other members’ trade policies on the region.  Participants will review the WTO Secretariat document and provide feedback for incorporation into a final version by August 27 2007.

Virginia Paul is the new head of the OECS Trade Policy Unit which has been assisting OECS Member States with the review of their Trade Policy.

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, will also feature on the meeting’s agenda. It is intended to be a mechanism to provide assistance for developing countries to benefit from trade liberalisation by enabling them “to build the supply-side capacity and trade-related infrastructure”. WTO members are still debating the definition and modalities for delivery of AFT.

Trade officials and representatives of regional organisations including the OECS Secretariat, The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority ECTEL, The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank ECCB, The Caricom Regional Negotiating Machinery CRNM and the Geneva-based Agency for International Trade Information and Cooperation AITIC will be attending the  two-day meeting. 

AITIC is working with the OECS Secretariat to facilitate the attendance of trade officials from the Member States at this seminar. This assistance falls within the ambit of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the OECS and AITIC in December 2006 to formalize several years of fruitful collaboration.