CANADA AND CARICOM are working on a trade agreement that Canadian High Commissioner to Barbados Ruth Archibald says should benefit the two countries with the creation of more jobs and lowering of prices.Archibald said Barbados was the host site for the first two rounds of negotiations, and further direction would come from last week’s meeting of CARICOM Heads of State being held in Jamaica.“Discussions at these meetings have focused on ways Canada and CARICOM can move forward with a comprehensive trade agreement that takes into account CARICOM’s sensitivities”, Archibald said as she addressed other diplomats, representatives from the local business community and other guests attending a Canada Day reception at her official residence last Thursday night.The High Commissioner said Canada’s banking system was “widely seen as an island of stability in an uncertain world”, with the World Economic Forum describing it “the soundest in the world”.“I like to think that some of that has rubbed off in the [Caribbean] region to positive effect in these difficult times”, Archibald remarked.She noted that among G7 countries, Canada had the lowest overall tax rate on new companies and new business investments entering its economy.“We are on track to have the lowest corporate tax in the G7 by 2012. For these and other reasons, the Economist Intelligence Unit has identified Canada as the best place to invest over the next five years”, the High Commissioner said.
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