From left to right: Percival Marie, Director-General, CARIFORUM; Bradly Felix, Saint Lucia’s Minister for Commerce, Industry, Enterprise
Development and Consumer Affairs; and Gail Mathurin, Director-General, Office of Trade Negotiations, CARICOM Secretariat.
CARIFORUM, EU Sign Rollover Trade Agreement
Agreement Protects Region’s Access To UK,
EU Markets Post-Brexit
Even as British Prime Minister,
Theresa May, continued to face stiff
opposition from the Labour Party
and even her own Conservative
Party in finding a solution to Brexit,
efforts have been shaping up in
the Caribbean to protect regional
trade to the United Kingdom and
European Union.
A two-day high-level meeting of
Ministers representing countries
and territories that are signatories
to the CARIFORUM-EU Economic
Partnership Agreement met for
the 25th Meeting of CARIFORUM
Ministers at Harbor Club Hotel
in Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia, from
March 21-22 where a major signing
ceremony took place.
Nine
CARIFORUM
countries
signed the rollover agreement
on the last of the two-day
meeting where representatives
of the United Kingdom were also
present. The agreement that
was signed essentially replicates
the CARIFORUM-EU Economic
Partnership Agreement.
8 SL-YOU | Business, People & Lifestyle
Percival Marie, Director-General,
CARIFORUM, told reporters that the
significance of the signing ceremony
should not be underestimated:
“The
Economic
Partnership
Agreement that we have with the
European Union will continue to
exist and will govern the trade
relationship between ourselves
and the remaining members of
the European Union. It’s just that
instead of one agreement, we’ll
have two agreements: one covering
the rest of the EU and one covering
the UK.”
www.slyoumag.com | July-August 2019