Trade Watch V8 No 3 July 2014

EXPORT DEVELOPMENT

CAFEIN Meeting on SPS and overcoming Technical Barriers to Trade

A major part of Caribbean Export’s mandate under the 10th EDF RPSDP, is support of the implementation and full exploitation of the CARIFORUM-EU EPA with the region. The EPA is designed to create the kind of enabling environment necessary for mutually beneficial trade between CARIFORUM and Europe. However, in order to take full advantage of the benefits of this relationship, regional firms must be equipped with the knowledge of and capacity to implement, the stipulated requirements of export to the EU. Caribbean Export and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) have been working in close partnership in order to ensure that regional small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and business support organisation (BSOs) are provided with access to the requisite information and training to enable them to be viable and strong competitors on a global scale. One of the most recent ways in which Caribbean Export and GIZ have gone about executing this mandate is through a CARIFORUM- EPA Implementation Network (CAFEIN) Meeting on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and overcoming Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) which was held at the Hilton Barbados Resort from May 26-27, 2014. This Symposium was convened in response to the growing concern over the ability of regional firms to conform to the safety requirements and trade stipulations of EU import, particularly with the context of the EPA. Food safety remains one of the major barriers to regional private sector expansion and export. The stringent regulations pose a challenge for private sector enterprises, as well as supporting bodies as they aim to successfully implement effective policies and procedures to best conform to these regulations. The EPA, having very strong developmental components, seeks on only to encourage trade between the EU and CARIFORUM States, but also to develop the region’s competitiveness on a global level. It order to achieve the goal of a highly developed, unified and functional Caribbean brand, collaborative effort is necessary from both the private sector and the public sector under a unified vision. The meeting, which took a workshop format, was an opportunity for stakeholders from both the private sector and public sector to engage in dialogue on these challenges at a national and regional level and to formulate implementable action plans to alleviate them. The first day of meetings focused on SPS while the second day’s proceedings revolved around the peculiar challenges which TBT pose. Each day consisted of presentations, panel discussions, strategic meetings and break-out sessions which allowed regional stakeholders to interact intimately and collaborate on the formulate of the action plan. Dialogue was centred specifically on increasing awareness of the EPA, SPS and TBT; assessing the needs of SMEs and supporting organizations necessity to augment the capacity of firms to complywithSPS and TBT, and examining related opportunities in theCaribbean context while staying mindful of the unique challenges of the regional context. Particularly in the context of EPA Implementation Unit’s (EIU’s), there was a push to create awareness of on-going projects and opportunities and to foster a more communicative culture among implementing partners and regional stakeholders. (TW)

3 Tradewatch • The Official E-Newsletter of the Caribbean Export Development Agency • Vol. 8 No. 3 July 2014