OECS trade negotiating group meets in Saint Lucia

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

CASTRIES, St. Lucia: The seventh meeting of the OECS Trade Negotiating Group, which is comprised of trade officials from the OECS Member States, representatives of the private sector and the OECS Secretariat, will be convened in Saint Lucia on Friday April 02, 2004. 

The Group's main objective to assist Member States of the OECS in managing their external trade relations by, among other things, facilitating the formulation of positions on external trade negotiations.

The main items that will be discussed at this meeting are the:

• Structure that the CARICOM and the Dominican Republic will adopt for negotiating economic partnership arrangements with the European Union. The negotiations are due to be formally launched on April 16th in Jamaica. 

• A strategy for proceeding in the stalled FTAA negotiations 

• Considerations for special and differential treatment for the OECS countries in negotiating theatres such as the WTO and the FTAA. 

The meeting will also receive updates on initiatives for technical assistance support for strengthening the Secretariat and the Member States in the area of trade policy and negotiating capacity.

This TNG meeting will be preceded by a meeting of CARICOM officials also on Friday April 2nd to examine the negotiating structure for Economic Partnership Agreements with the EU.

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