Free Trade between CARIFORUM and the European Union: Potential Impacts

The Regional Coordination Mechanism for the Implementation of the Mauritius Strategy

Restructuring Caribbean industries to meet the challenge of trade liberalisation

The Contonou Agreement: Selected issues, effects and implications for Caribbean economies

Long term growth in the Caribbean: a balance of payments constraint approach

The long-term growth of economies of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) exhibits three characteristics. First, the aggregate rate of growth of CARICOM economies has declined over time. Second, the decline is attributed mainly to the Less Developed Countries (LDCs) as the More Developed Countries (MDCs) have in fact improved their growth performance. Third, all economies show a stagnation in growth since the middle of the 1990s. Fourth, a process of increasing divergence characterizes the growth performance of CARICOM economies.…

ECLAC Launches the Caribbean Knowledge Management Centre

Labour market trends and implications of regional integration

Labour markets represent the backbone of economic functioning, providing the means of survival to populations, with labour income ensuring the livelihood of workers and families alike. Labour is also an essential input into production - in many cases it is the main input, especially in service sectors which are dominant sectors in the Caribbean. As such, labour markets define economic well-being: in competitive economies labour is paid its marginal product. This implies that only productive labour prospers as higher productivity implies higher earnings, which in turn allows for higher consumpt…

Free trade and the development of sustainable agriculture in the Caribbean

This study examines the options for Caribbean countries in pursuing development of their agricultural sectors given the changes taking place in the international economy. The most significant of these changes is the liberalization of the trading regimes for primary agricultural products, in particular banana, by the European Union. This has serious implications for small Caribbean countries that rely on exports of one or a few commodities and are unable to compete in free markets. However, countries could reposition their agricultural sectors to take advantage of export niche markets and/or g…

Report to the CDCC: Review of ECLAC/CDCC Programme of Activities for the 2002-2003 Biennium

Issues, effects and implications of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Agreement for CARICOM economies

The objective of this document is to analyse some of the main issues, effects and implications of the FTAA for Caribbean Community (CARICOM) economies. It also considers when relevant and for comparison purposes the cases of non-independent States. The document is divided into seven sections. Following the introduction, the second section describes, albeit briefly, the main issues that are found in the Free Trade Areas literature. The third section introduces the FTAA participants highlighting their economic and social disparities. The fourth section centers on the FTAA underlying principles …

Progress made in the implementation of the CARICOM single market and economy

This paper examines the progress in the implementation of the CSME and what this has meant for the core (trade, investment, etc.); and functional aspects (foreign policy coordination, education, health and social development, etc.,); of integration. A tentative assessment is also made of the relevance of the current mode of integration in light of the opportunities and constraints of the international environment. The paper is divided into three sections. Section one provides a critical assessment of the implementation of the protocols and other aspects of the CSME. Section two evaluates the …

The Netherlands Antilles: trade and integration with CARICOM (revisited)

Introduction The study of trade and integration (LC/CAR/G.681) between the Netherlands Antilles and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was undertaken to assess the nature and extent of trade between the two groups of countries as well as the institutional framework for facilitating such trade. In addition, the study considered integration options for increasing trade, in particular Netherlands Antilles exports to CARICOM. Assessment of the export structures of the two groups revealed similarity in goods and services produced but a more diversified export structure in the case of CARICOM. Th…

Export promotion policies in CARICOM Caribbean economies

Discusses the objectives behind export promotional policies, their methods, and the benefits to be derived. Describes, analyses and assesses export promotional polices in the case of CARICOM Caribbean economies. Examines the physical and institutional context, and instruments for export promotional policies, and the analyses their implications and impact.…

Analysis of trade flows between Puerto Rico and CARICOM and prospects for integration

Puerto Rico and Caribbean Community (CARICOM); Caribbean countries share important common characteristics. They are open economies and while their trade specialization patterns are heterogenous, historical, institutional and geographical factors have shaped export and import linkages that are closely tied to those of the United States and Western Europe. CARICOM Caribbean economies and Puerto Rico also adopted, early on, a common approach to development, that of 'industrialisation by invitation'. Its main elements included fiscal incentives, the attraction of foreign direct investmen…

Developments in relation to the proposal for securing the international recognition of the Caribbean sea as a special area in the context of sustainable development

Our Caribbean civilisation has been very much shaped by the sea. The evidence of this in our region abounds from time immemorial: the peopling of our Caribbean; its trading; its economy and commerce, ancient and modern; its daily living and eating; its culture and its thinking. All these facets of life and production have been moulded, even determined, by the sea. Yet, strangely our Caribbean civilisation has yet to reflect in public policy the real value and significance of the sea which joins us all. To be sure, each country in the region has its own ministry of fisheries but each m…

Incorporation of special and differential treatment in international trade agreements and the implications for Caribbean economies

The provision for special and differential treatment favoring developing economies in multilateral trade agreements recognizes that countries compete on an unequal footing. Special and differential treatment can be traced to early development theories and to the reports of the preparatory committee for the formation of the International Trade Organization (ITO). The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, 1947) addressed developing countries' needs for an asymmetrical treatment in international trade relations. Later on, the incorporation of Annex IV to the GATT (1964) p…

Highlighting the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Perspectives of Caribbean SIDS

Global economic developments, 2000-2001

Executive Summary The global economy is experiencing a recession, which originated in the United States and is affecting developed and developing economies alike. Between the second and third quarter of 2001, the United States GDP growth rate decreased from 2.6 per cent to 1.2 per cent. For the same period, the European Union's GDP growth rate declined from 2.4 per cent to 1.7 per cent. For Latin America and the Caribbean the growth will fall from 4 per cent in 2000 to 1 per cent in 2001. A central issue regarding the current recession is whether it will be short lived or rather …

The Netherlands Antilles: trade and integration with CARICOM

Introduction The Netherlands Antilles is an autonomous entity within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and comprises a federation of five Caribbean islands: Bonaire and Curacao (the Leeward islands) which comprise 80 per cent of the population of 211,000 and Saba, St. Eustatius and the southern part of St. Maarten (the Windward islands). Like the other countries in the Kingdom, it enjoys full autonomy in internal matters as, for example, education, public health, justice and customs. It has a per capita income of about US$ 12,000. The Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands account for a…

Problems relating to technology transfer mechanisms in the Caribbean

Notes the existence of private technology transfer or transactions but examines in some detail the efforts of UNDP/TCDC; OAS; the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation; USAID; the Peace Corps and the International Development Research Centre, noting that they have been particularly important in both the promotion and implementation of the concept of technology transfer. Examines in detail the types and methods of technology transfer which range from agricultural extensions to seminars and workshops.…