| Barbados Welcomes Expanding Trade Opportunities |
by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com
Friday, April 08, 2011
Improved trade ties with the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada will
be bolstered further by the signing of new landmark agreements, Barbados’s
Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Maxine McClean announced at a recent business
luncheon.
Welcoming the strong ties with its major trading partners, and their contribution
to Barbados’s prosperity, McClean said: "As we witness the rapidly
changing international landscape, characterized by the emergence of new centres
of economic power, these countries remain important destination markets, sources
of investment and critical imports, and major homes of our diaspora."
"Barbados had been helped in this relationship by generous
concessions in terms of development assistance and ease of access to markets
through unilateral trading preferences. We are aware that such preferences have
about ended and we are adjusting rapidly to the new global arena, where free
trade is the expected norm."
Alluding to relations with the UK, the Minister explained that there had been
a redefinition by way of the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). "We are working hastily to bring this Agreement into full legal
effect. The EPA is a historic agreement and we must continue to work together
to ensure that the potential benefits accrue," she said.
With regards the US, McClean observed that the reshaping of that relationship was "on
CARICOM's radar".
"We are presently engaged in negotiations with the USA which will lead
to the finalization of a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. This Agreement
will serve as a forum for CARICOM and the United States to meet and discuss
issues of mutual interest. These include cooperation and the enhancement of
trading and investment opportunities," she said.
Representatives at the luncheon further heard that the government is also addressing
threats to the offshore and international business sector, and said that Barbados
remained a leader in Caribbean affairs with a high level of political stability
and a "clean" financial sector.
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