The Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago has now passed the ‘CARIFORUM-EC Economic Partnership Agreement Bill’. This means that the EPA is now law. CARICOM rushed into these trade negotiations and signed off on many significant obligations (mostly without reservation), many without true consensus and stakeholder buy-in. Our institutional frameworks are nowhere near ready for EPA implementation, especially given the lack of any coherent economic development or diversification plan. The Government seems to think that all we need to do is remove trade tariffs (just look at the legislation and the debate records), but there is so much more that needs to be done to truly implement the EPA. Our failed regulatory and institutional systems are now both inconsistent with domestic law and international trade law. As we understand, the situation is much the same in our Sister CARICOM States. Free trade can create opportunities for a new era of prosperity, but for an unprepared state, it can be a marker for the beginning of economic death.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 22:28:09 +0000
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