Dionne Rose, Business Reporter
Ambassador Richard Bernal, lead trade negotiator for CARICOM. - FILE
The Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) expectations that it would have been back at the table to iron out a deal with Canada, were dashed this week when the Canadians threw out the May 1-3 date, saying it was inconvenient, according to Ambassador Richard Bernal.
"So, right now we don't have a date," said Bernal, head of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) and lead trade negotiator for CARICOM.
"Now we have to look for another date," he said yesterday.
It's not clear what message the Canadians intended to send, but they had signalled peeve at CARICOM's earlier delay of the talks.
The parties, having met last October, had agreed to begin haggling in February, but in January CARICOM said it needed more time to absorb the European Partnership Agreement, and to ascertain what conditions from it to take into the Canadian negotiations.
Problems with talks
Said the Canadian Embassy's foreign policy newsletter: "While the European Commission has success-fully completed an Econo-mic Partnership Agreement with the 15-nation Caribbean Community, Canadian negotiators are having trouble getting free-trade talks out of the gate."
The deal to be struck with Canada is meant to iron out a larger, more expansive free-trade agreement for goods, as well as two new dimensions, services and investments.
"It is most unfortunate that we have had this long and unnecessary delay in resuming the negotiations with Canada," said Bernal.
"The lesson is that when we make commitments we as a region (must) follow through as quickly as possible."
CARICOM largely trades with Canada under the CaribCan pact on goods which expired in 2006.
Billion-dollar value
Commerce between the 15-member CARICOM, a market of 15 million, and the North American country of 33 million was last valued in 2006 at C$2 billion, according to CRNM, which said a breakout was not available.
Other data on the CRNM's website pertaining to year 2002, placed the value of two-way merchandise trade between the two partners at C$1.2 billion of which there was a positive balance in favour of CARICOM of C$335 million.
In 2000, bilateral services trade between CARICOM and Canada amounted to C$2.28 billion with a CARICOM surplus of C$703 million.
Jamaica's trade with Canada has similarly tracked the wider regional data.
While the value of exports have wobbled year to year, they were mostly double the value of goods imported from the North American country.
In 2006, for example, the latest breakout external trade data published by the Bank of Jamaica, sales to Canada were US$308 million, while imports amounted to US$124 million - valuing two-way trade at US$432 million.
Leading CARICOM exports to Canada are gold, alumina/bauxite, fisheries and agri-food products, mineral fuels, petroleum oils, steel rods and industrial chemicals.
In 2000, Canada exported C$346.91 million worth of goods to CARICOM and imported C$539.98 million, for two-way merchandise trade of just under C$887 million in 2000.
This figure does not capture many goods transshipped through the United States, said the CRNM.
Canadian investments in the region centred in the financial, mining and energy sectors and are estimated by one source at C$25 billion, making CARICOM its third most important investment destination after the United States and the United Kingdom.
Leading Canadian exports to the region include fisheries and agri-food products, telecommunications equipment, computers, paper (including newsprint), furniture and pharmaceuticals, said the CRNM.
Canada's big banks - Royal Bank of Canada through its recent acquisition of RBTT, Scotiabank, and CIBC through is more than 90 per cent ownership of FirstCaribbean, are dominant in the commercial banking sector throughout the region.
