NewsWhore
12-16-2008, 05:50 PM
The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between CARIFORUM and the European Union (EU) could serve to cultivate closer trade ties between CARICOM and the Dominican Republic (DR), after years of slow progress, Dominican Ambassador to the European Union, Federico Cuello told the Barbados Advocate. He believes the EPA could result in the creation of a number of linkages between the two that have been missing in the past. He was referring to the fact that a CARICOM-DR Free Trade Agreement had been on the tables since 1998, but the implementation record has been abysmal, noting that this has resulted in very little trade between the two parties. He told the Barbados Advocate that the trade between the two is characterized by greater export from the former to the latter than imports, which he hopes is an advantage that the region can continue to enjoy in the future. He stated that this is possible because the DR has given to CARICOM what they have given to Europe under the EPA, which is 95 per cent free trade.
"We do not want to discriminate against CARICOM, and favor the Europeans by not applying the regional preference. That is why I think the regional preference is a major victory for CARICOM, because they will enjoy access in the DR in areas where they didn't enjoy access before."
He stated that under the CARICOM-DR agreement, the region did not enjoy access on orange juice and on glass bottles, for example. "These are specific examples where there was a particular interest, and it's only because of the regional preference that finally there is access into the DR."
He also pointed to the issues of distribution services where the DR's famous Law 173 required the distribution of CARICOM products to be performed by distributors established in the DR and associated with DR partners. This was correctly viewed as a protectionist measure, and has subsequently been discarded with respect to their agreement with Europe, and as a result of the regional preference, CARICOM also now enjoys access into this sector.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)
"We do not want to discriminate against CARICOM, and favor the Europeans by not applying the regional preference. That is why I think the regional preference is a major victory for CARICOM, because they will enjoy access in the DR in areas where they didn't enjoy access before."
He stated that under the CARICOM-DR agreement, the region did not enjoy access on orange juice and on glass bottles, for example. "These are specific examples where there was a particular interest, and it's only because of the regional preference that finally there is access into the DR."
He also pointed to the issues of distribution services where the DR's famous Law 173 required the distribution of CARICOM products to be performed by distributors established in the DR and associated with DR partners. This was correctly viewed as a protectionist measure, and has subsequently been discarded with respect to their agreement with Europe, and as a result of the regional preference, CARICOM also now enjoys access into this sector.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)