CARIBBEAN: CTO organises workshop on trade negotiations

CTO organises workshop on trade negotiations
Web Posted - Tue Sep 30 2003

Tourism stakeholders in Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) member countries 
are being given an opportunity to better prepare themselves to effectively 
participate in the ongoing trade negotiation process. 
CTO has organised a two-day training workshop on Tourism Services Negotiation 
Issues to cover the fundamentals of trade negotiations. 

The workshop, to be held on October 2 and 3, 2003 at CTO headquarters in 
Barbados, will address the various services-related trade negotiations in 
which the Caribbean region is currently engaged. These include the World 
Trade Organisation/General Agreement in Trades and Services (WTO/GATS), the 
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the Caribbean Single Market and 
Economy (CSME). 

The outcome of these negotiations, particularly those at the World Trade 
Organisation under the General Agreement in Trade and Services (GATS) is 
likely to have a profound impact on the way the tourism industry does 
business, and therefore on the development of this region, said Karen 
Ford-Warner, deputy secretary general of the CTO. 

In order to ensure that the interests of Caribbean tourism stakeholders are 
put on the table, Caribbean trade negotiators need to be armed with national 
and regional negotiating positions that are derived from consultations and 
agreement between private and public sector tourism interests. The CTO is 
committed to playing a key role in strengthening the capacity and knowledge 
base of these stakeholders to enable more effective engagement in the trade 
negotiating process on an on-going basis, Ford-Warner added. 

During the two-day workshop, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, senior trade specialist 
and head of CARICOM Capacity Building at the Trade Unit of the Organisation 
of American States will lead discussion on “Tourism Services in the World 
Tourism Organisation”; Lawrence Placide, director of the International Trade 
Negotiations Unit of the Trinidad & Tobago Chamber of Commerce will talk on 
“Services in the Free Trade Area of the Americas”; Desiree Field-Ridley, 
advisor, Single Market and Sectoral Programmes at the CARICOM Secretariat 
will address “Services in the Caribbean Single Market and Economy”; and 
Ramesh Chaitoo, Services Trade specialist at the Caribbean Regional 
Negotiating Machinery will discuss “Tourism Services Negotiations Issues: 
Implications for CARIFORUM”. Participants will also seek to draft 
recommendations on possible positions to be adopted in the context of the 
negotiations that reflect Caribbean tourism interests. Recommendations will 
be submitted to ministers for discussion at the upcoming ministers of tourism 
meeting to be held in St. Thomas, USVI, on October 15, 2003. Since the start 
of this year, the CTO has hosted discussions with key strategic regional 
partners, including the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), Caribbean Latin 
American Action (CLAA), and the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery 
(CRNM) on the trade talks and the challenges for the region in international 
negotiations in services. 


SOURCE: Barbados Advocate