Over the holidays the UWI Sridath Ramphal Centre (SRC) and TESS ( a European NGO forussed on sutainable trade) released a fascinating paper, written by Jan Yves Remy and Peta Gay Facet Wilson, with the title “A Sustainable and Inclusive Trade Agenda for CARICOM“.
Read the full paper at this link.
Summary
The paper is a fairly deep dive into the ways in which sustainable development can fit into the international trade policy space and in this sense it makes an important contribution to the work CARICOM may want to do to align trade policy into this overarching priority.
The paper makes a number of substantive policy recommendations for CARICOM action, as well as a number of procedural recommendations for elements of the CARICOM bureaucratic machinery.
With respect to the specifics of the Canada-CARICOM trade relationship, the paper is largely silent. And it does not represent CARICOM policy…yet.
However, in the past the Canada-Caribbean Institute has urged the Canadian and CARICOM governments to reactivate the existing “consultative mechanism” that exists between them on trade matters and use it to begin a regular and substantive engagement on trade issues. See CCI Co-Chairs comment on Canada-CARICOM Strategic Partnership. If the SRC paper is adopted by CARICOM as a framework for its future trade policy (and frankly, even if it is not), it’s ideas and recommendations can form the basis (an agenda) for the kind of renewed trade dialogue the CCI has been urging. This would serve to give substance to the joint commitment both sides have made to a Canada-CARICOM Strategic Partnership.
And it should give researchers in the CCI network plenty of ideas for trade-related work that can go on to support closer Canada-Caribbean trade relations.
Ideas from the paper
The paper notes that the issues of “sustainability and inclusiveness” have been converging with the international trade agenda internationally. But it notes that the the Caribbean region has not devised a trade strategy to guide its international trade policy, far less one that focuses on these “newer” trade issues that underpin the sustainability and inclusiveness agenda.10
The paper proposes the development and implementation of a comprehensive trade policy that incorporates sustainability and inclusiveness, tailored to the unique position and challenges of CARICOM states.
The paper proposes several building blocks for a CARICOM regional trade policy that includes sustainable and inclusive elements.
Building Blocks
Overcome biases, competition for donor funding, silos
- Adopt a common approach to regional development priorities
- Foster global partnerships (SDG 17)
Revitalize key trade-related regional sectors
- Energy
- Climate change
- Maritime transport
- Blue economy
- Tourism
- Food security
- Cross-cutting sectoral policies
Capitalize on current trade agreements/processes
- Make concerted efforts to engage multilateral negotiations holistically (WTO, UNFCCC)
- Update terms of relationships with existing trading partners and develop new arrangements with
Strengthen existing regional coordination mechanisms
- Invigorate CARICOM provisions, processes, and organs: RTC provisions, Council for Trade and Economic Development, institutions
- Engage civil society and academic/research partner institutions/national processes
The paper goes on to propose a number of substantive and process-related recommendations.
Substantive Recommendations
- Task the CARICOM Single Market and Economy Unit, supported by regional technical institutions (UWI, the Caribbean Development Bank, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency) with conducting a detailed inventory/assessment of sustainable/ trade provisions in CARICOM’s regional and third-party agreements and ex-ante/ex-post assessments of the distributive impacts of current and future trade agreements on CARICOM’s trade landscape, vulnerable groups, sectors, and communities to inform trade policy and complementary domestic policies.
- Charge the competent CARICOM bodies/organs with enacting regional policies focused on energy, climate change, maritime and transport, the blue economy, food security, and cross-cutting areas such as digital trade, innovation, tourism, services trade, and the creative industry.
- Review and (as necessary) update trade relationships with traditional partners and expand trade relationships with Latin America and other South–South partners.
Process-related recommendations
- Charge the Council for Trade and Economic Development with keeping a “watching brief” over all multilateral, international, and regional negotiations and processes that bear on the sustainable and inclusive agenda.
- Ensure that CARICOM technical working groups, organs, and bodies with overlapping agendas with trade (finance, climate, transport, women, innovation) meet regularly to review intersections of work programmes, coordinate approaches, and, where necessary, ratchet up for the attention of the Heads of Government Conference.
- Encourage national governments and donor agencies working with government agencies to report on and coordinate SDG-related projects and priorities in the region.
- Create a focal point system to facilitate the engagement of non-traditional stakeholders (civil society, farmers, academia) at all stages of the trade policy process, including monitoring and implementation of trade agreements.
- Conduct comprehensive and ongoing technical research and training programmes in critical areas— including gender equality, MSMEs, digital trade, agriculture, and climate change—to strengthen the capacity of CARICOM negotiators and trade officials to engage effectively and strategically in international trade discussions
Note: Building Blocks and Recommendations sourced from TESS-SRC-Policy-Brief-A-Sustainable-and-Inclusive-Trade-Agenda-for-CARICOM.pdf