Below: Gail Mathurin,
Director-General, Office of Trade
Negotiations, CARICOM Secretariat.
Gail Mathurin, Director-General,
Office of Trade Negotiations,
CARICOM Secretariat, said the
signing was essential since no
solution seems to be in sight for the
controversial Brexit debate that has
been the UK’s number one issue
since a referendum was held there
three years ago.
In a referendum held in the UK
on June 23, 2016, 51.9% of those
who voted supported leaving the
European, thereby triggering Article
50 of the Treaty on European Union
and a two-year process that was
due to conclude with the UK’s exit
on March 29, 2019 a deadline that
was later extended to October 2019.
“It was necessary because if and
when the United Kingdom leaves
the European Union, if Brexit
happens, then our trade to the
UK would no longer be covered
by the CARIFORUM-EU Economic
Partnership Agreement,” she stated.
She added: “So we had to ensure
that we had a separate instrument
which captured exactly the same
kinds of commitments – market
access for our goods and services,
development cooperation – that we
have in the EPA with the European
Union in a separate agreement with
the United Kingdom.”
In effect, the agreement guarantees
a ready market for products such
as bananas, rum, agro-processed
goods, methanol and rice from the
region to the UK market where
they enjoy a zero-rated tariff. Such
products would attract significant
tariffs if the UK implements its own
tariff regime.
Mathurin said the withdrawal
agreement that Prime Minister
May hopes to makes it way through
Parliament envisages a transitional
period to the end of December
2020, adding that during that
period, “the UK would continue to
be treated as a part of the European
Union as far as the agreements such
as ours are concerned.”
“In a scenario where the withdrawal
agreement was adopted, we would
not have had to adopt a bilateral
agreement with the United Kingdom
until the end of December 2020,”
she said.
The region’s private sector, which
has expressed concerns over the
past two years, will be apprised
of these latest developments via
region-wide briefings.
Saint Lucia is one the Member States
that signed the new agreement in
March, with Bradly Felix, Minister
for Commerce, Industry, Enterprise
Development
and
Consumer
Affairs, said he was pleased with the
outcome of the meeting.
“We have been trying for a while
now to get Ministers to the table to
sign this agreement and are actually
extremely pleased that after many
attempts we’re finally able to get
this done,” Felix said. “I’m even
more elated with the number of
countries that signed.”
While only nine Member States
signed the agreement in March,
other States did not as they are
yet to complete their domestic
arrangements
which
would
authorize them to sign the
agreement. Some will need a
Cabinet decision on a final text,
others will need the country’s
President’s approval, while others
will have to take bring the matter to
a Constitutional Court.
From left to right: Percival Marie, Director-General, CARIFORUM and Bradly Felix, Saint Lucia’s
Minister for Commerce, Industry, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs.
12 SL-YOU | Business, People & Lifestyle
www.slyoumag.com | July-August 2019