Trade war with Trinidad will be detrimental - Baugh
Published:Friday | March 18, 2011 | 12:00 AM
The Jamaican Gover-nment is to send a technical trade mission to Trinidad and Tobago to ease trade tensions that could prove detrimental to businesses operating in both countries.
Among the long-standing issues at the core of the stand-off is Trinidad's imposition of non-tariff barriers on Jamaican products which, in the past, have resulted in the blocking of exports from Jamaica.
Paving the way for the visit of the technical team, Karl Samuda, minister of industry, investment and commerce, will visit the twin, island republic at the end of March, on the invitation of Trinidad's association of manufacturers.
Dr Kenneth Baugh, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, said Samuda is expected to engage Trinidadian private-sector interests in discussions aimed at strengthening trade and investment links between both countries and their business interests, according to a release from the foreign ministry this week.
Baugh, in submissions before Parliament, has implied there would be more frequent consultations between Jamaican and Trinidadian business interests as both countries seek to collaborate in the interest of national and regional economic progress.
High-level meeting
Baugh told lawmakers that a high-level meeting between senior government officials from both countries, held in Kingston in November last year, had resulted in an agreement that there would be more bilateral consultations and cooperation, and more specifically, that business interests from both sides would meet to resolve differences.
"My expectation is that these interactions will help us to arrive at a better understanding of each other's positions," said Baugh, quoted in the foreign ministry press release.
His expectation is that "the continuing process of bilateral consultations" between the two countries "will foster confidence building at government and private-sector levels."
Participants at the November meeting had discussions on Trinidad's energy-pricing policy, non-tariff barriers, support for the use of raw materials from the domestic and regional agricultural sectors, and movement of skilled Jamaican nationals into Trinidad and Tobago.
An important outcome of the meeting, Baugh said, was the recommendation that a technical level trade mission from Jamaica should travel to Trinidad with the aim of both building relationships and exploring business opportunities for Jamaica, primarily the supply of agricultural goods to Trinidad's manufacturing sector.
"This way, we link our agricultural sector with their manufacturing sector," Baugh said.
In supporting increased bilateral relations with Trinidad on both the ministerial and private-sector levels, Baugh highlighted the complex business environment in which both countries exists.
"Trinidadian companies now own businesses in Jamaica. Jamaican companies now own businesses in Trinidad and Tobago. Trade wars with Trinidad and Tobago will not only be detrimental to businesses owned by Trinidadians in Trinidad and Tobago. They will also be detrimental to Jamaican-owned businesses in Trinidad and Tobago and to businesses owned by Trinidadians in Jamaica, which employ large numbers of Jamaicans," he said.