Officials from Ministries of Trade, Customs and Excise and the private sector from Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Kitts and Nevis will meet in St. Lucia on September 25 & 26 to discuss approaches towards these negotiations.

While the results of these negotiations are largely beneficial to both private and pubic sector concerns, there may be a need for assistance for the implementation.

Developing countries at the World Trade Organization have sought and secured the right to receive technical assistance from donors to implement the trade facilitation measures under negotiation.  The process of accessing this assistance requires that each country undertake a detailed analysis of the areas in which reform is needed.

This meeting will provide the tools for participants to assess what assistance that may be required from international donors to upgrade Customs and trade procedures towards compliance with WTO obligations. One of the key outcomes will be the establishment of national task forces in participating member States that will be mandated to execute a full scale assessment of national needs. It is expected that the IMF, OECD, UNCTAD, World Bank and the WCO will assist OECS member States to develop capacity gaps exposed by the planned assessment.

This meting is being convened be the OECS Secretariat in conjunction with the United Nations Committee on Trade and Development.