Regional seminar clarifies confusion

[NewsWhore]

Yesterday, Caribbean and European officials met at Santo Domingo's Intercontinental Hotel to discuss the recently signed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between CARIFORUM (Caricom plus the DR) and the European Union. Present at the event was Federico Cuello Camilo, Dominican Ambassador in Brussels, Junior Lodge, Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) representative in Brussels and CRNM Senior Director Henry Gill, among others. In what has been a continuing effort by regional and European representatives to disseminate information about the accord, officials took the time out to discuss the innovative nature of the EPA and to dispel some of the concerns and rumors about the agreement. During his closing statement Cuello commented that, "when we have demonstrated we can do this, we have demonstrated to our developed counterparts in Europe that we can get it done. We have completely changed the structure in order to start making the most of the agreement. There is a consensus in the private sector and in the political forces of the Dominican Republic, because clearly the negotiations were positive, and as you have heard today the support is widespread in civil society and in the private sector." After the conference, dr1.com Trade Correspondent Lu Olivero was able to sit down with both Gill and Lodge to further discuss the benefits of the agreement. Lodge spoke of the difficulties of formulating one position within the region (there are 15 Caricom countries and the DR) and then presenting that position to the EU. Gill discussed the initial success of the negotiations reflecting on the fact that the DR and Caricom were able to agree on a uniform position that would then presented to the EU. "The DR and Caricom held it together smoothly. This was a big jump, psychologically, because of history, language and other reasons. This was first time the DR and Caricom have been able to do something like this since the DR-Caricom agreement, which was not concluded." In reference to the negative press the EPA has received, Gill says that this can be attributed to a couple of things, including the wish by some to have had a larger role in the negotiations and that some countries didn't receive all the concessions they wanted. Ever confident, the SD feels that with time a lot of the negativity is going to die down. As for the release of the EPA final document, officials say that it is almost ready to be published, once it has been translated into French, Dutch, Spanish and English.

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