by Carmel Haynes

ACCUSATIONS that regional authorities are racing to conclude an agreement with Europe without taking on board the concerns of farmers have been strongly refuted by one CARICOM trade minister.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerry Symmonds told the BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that at least in Barbados' case, agricultural representatives were consulted when it came to regional and international negotiations – whether at the CARICOM, EU or World Trade Organisation (WTO) level.

Symmonds said regional governments were doing their best to defend its interests and had no intention of liberalising that sector at the expense of its farmers, given the importance of food security to the Caribbean.

He added that after four years of negotiations the region was not "racing"; the fact of the matter was the WTO waiver that allowed the EU to maintain its preferential trading relationship with the Caribbean would expire on December 31 this year. This, he said, would create a void
if a new trade agreement was not reached.

If that happened, regional farmers would be faced with complete uncertainty and without the added benefit of the development assistance promised through the EPA, Symmonds said.

He made these statements in response to comments coming out of a Caribbean Farmers Network workshop on The New Regional Trade Environment in the Caribbean: A Farmers' Perspective, in St Lucia last week.

During the workshop Claire Godfrey, Oxfam trade policy advisor based in Oxford in Britain, said regional authorities were not listening to farmers' concerns about the impact the EPA negotiations had on them and urged the 50 participants to lobby their ministers to take up these concerns at the parliamentary level. (CH)