THE IMPACT of trade liberalisation on the environment of countries like Barbados cannot be overstated, technical adviser on intellectual property and agriculture with the Regional Negotiating Machinery, Malcolm Spence, has warned.

Spence said the relationship between trade and the environment was either being raised by the region's negotiating partners or was being recognised by regional negotiators as an important element in establishing rules of trade between the region and the global community.

"The key issue is that trade liberalisation is going to have some impact on the environment of this region and that the environment is critical to many aspects of our economic development," Spence told participants in the annual seminar of the Ministry of Energy and the Environment's National Sub-Committee on Trade and Environment, held at Manor Lodge in Green Hill, St Michael, on Wednesday.

Spence stressed that the future of the region needed to be established on the basis of sustainable development.

Furthermore, the trade official warned: "We need to be careful that in trying to achieve a competitive advantage we are not going to lower the standards that we set for ourselves in the provision of services. The whole area of environmental standards is something that is being addressed and negotiated at the multilateral level.

"It is always a complex balance that needs to be achieved between having good strong environmental standards established and ensuring that countries like ourselves – developing countries with limited capacity – actually have the capacity to meet those standards." (GE)