Europe an eager market for cultural exports
Published:Wednesday | March 30, 2011 | 12:00 AM
A European Union official in Jamaica on Monday lamented the few requests for support to develop the Caribbean's cultural exports - an area that regional negotiators had hailed as holding comparative advantage and could quickly take to market when CARIFORUM signed a reciprocal trade pact with the EU three years ago.
"Regrettably, we do not get enough, or enough good proposals," Helen Jenkinson told leaders of business organisations who were in Jamaica for a two-day meeting.
At the same time, Jenkinson, who heads the Economic and Social Development Section of the EU delegation here, repeated the message that has long come from her bosses in Brussels: that integration offers the best formula for the advancement of Caribbean economies and is how the EU wants to conduct its trade and cooperation arrangements with the region.
Speaking against the background of a slowdown in Caribbean economies following the global recessions, Jenkinson, made clear that it was "the commission's view" that the best immediate recovery and long-term expansion lay in "regional integration".
"The Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) is very important in all of this," she said.
The CSME is the on-going project of the 15-member CARICOM bloc to integrate their economies, in a fashion similar to the EU.
But CARICOM and the Dominican Republic, under the rubric of CARIFORUM, jointly signed a trade a reciprocal trade agreement with the EU in 2008 to supersede the preferential trade agreement that had been in place for decades.
As part of this agreement the EU, via the Caribbean Export Development Agency supports the development of business support organisations (BSOs).
It is members of these organisations that met in Kingston for two days to work out a plan for cooperation between themselves and how Caribbean Export, with its funding from the EU and the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ) can facilitate their work.
Much of the work of the BSO is focused on small and medium-size enterprises which Jamaica's junior trade and investment minister, Michael Stern told the meeting needed substantial support, if they are to create jobs and drive economic growth.
Support for SMEs important
"The strengthening and support (of SMEs) has never been more important to the Caribbean," Stern said, if the region is to overcome its economic troubles and take advantage of the opportunities in Europe.
Jenkinson conceded that from the perspective of Caribbean exports, the so-called Economic Partnership Agreement has "taken off quite slowly".
She, however, stressed that not only were there opportunities for regional exports in European markets, but assistance for the Caribbean to exploit those opportunities.
Culture, Jenkinson suggested, was one such area.
"There is a huge demand in Europe for culture and this region is rich enough (in culture)," she said.
Not only were there few requests for assistance, but when there were the project documents not well done.
"We can help (with direction)," Jenkinson said.
She also said that that helping the region to be compliant with Europe's sanitary and phyto-sanitary requirements as well as to enhance physical and business infrastructure were areas in which the EU supported the Caribbean.