Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade was among nine (9) Caribbean Ministers of Trade who together with UK Trade Minister, Hon. George Hollingbery, signed an agreement to preserve existing preferential trade terms between their countries and the United Kingdom in a Post-Brexit era.
Welcoming the development, Minister Johnson Smith said “Continuity and certainty are key to our business community and for our government. Given that the United Kingdom is our largest trading partner within the EU, it has been important for the Government of Jamaica, since the Brexit referendum in 2016, to work within CARIFORUM to preserve our existing preferential trade terms notwithstanding uncertainties regarding the Brexit process. The signature of this Agreement safeguards the uninterrupted continuation of trade between our region and the UK, and is consistent with the Government‟s vision that trade should be an engine of growth.”
The Minister explained that the CARIFORUM / UK Economic Partnership Agreement would „roll-over‟ the terms of the CARIFORUM /EU Economic Partnership Agreement and would therefore cover trade in goods, trade in services and trade-related issues such as Intellectual Property Rights.
The signing took place during the Twenty-Fifth Meeting of the CARIFORUM Council of Ministers in Castries, St. Lucia, from March 21-22, which engaged in trade policy discussions as well as preparations for the next phase of ACP / EU Post- Cotonou arrangements.
The countries who signed were: Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Other countries committed to completing their domestic procedures in short order.