Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Canadian officials meet

Published on: 3/30/2010. Barbados Nation Newspaper


CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY (CARICOM) and Canadian officials began a meeting here yesterday aimed at reaching a consensus on a new trade and development agreement.

The meeting comes four months after the first round of negotiations on the new accord to replace the more than 20-year-old Caribbean-Canada Trade Agreement (CARIBCAN) that was based on preferences to the Caribbean and which has since been ruled out of sync with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

An official statement said that the second round of talks would follow the completion of another session of meetings of the Technical Working Groups (TWGs).

The statement said that the talks "will also cover trade-related issues such as transparency in government procurement, and competition policy".

(CMC)