EU STATEMENT at the 4th Trade Policy Review of Barbados, 25 and 27 October 2022
On behalf of the EU, I would like to welcome the Delegation of Barbados, led by The Hon. Cheryl Sandra V. Husbands, M.P. Minister of State in Foreign Trade and Business Development, and extend my gratitude to the Discussant, H.E. Ambassador Dr. Asim Ahmed (Maldives) for his remarks.
The EU commends the efforts undertaken by Barbados to restore growth and to stabilize its economy since the previous Trade Policy Review in 2014. The Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) Plan focuses on improving productivity and diversifying the economy, as well as achieving fiscal consolidation and debt sustainability. Barbados' average annual rate of real GDP growth in the 2014 - 2019 period was quite moderate due to the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and decline in tourism. However, since 2021 the GDP is in the upwards direction thanks to gradual return of tourism.
Barbados is highly vulnerable to external shocks due to limited economic diversification, and high reliance on imports of goods. This vulnerability has shown in the economic hardship provoked by both natural disasters, such as the ash falls from the La Soufriere volcano eruption in 2021, as well as global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the recent price hikes resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We welcome Barbados’ firm position at the UN General Assembly condemning strongly Russia’s brutal aggression in Ukraine.
Barbados is an active participant in the work of the WTO and is committed to the multilateral trading system. The EU welcomes Barbados implementation of commitments under the Trade Facilitation Agreement and appreciates it is taking part in the Investment Facilitation for Development discussions. Barbados is one of the founding members of the Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade and we encourage Barbados to join and engage in the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD) and the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform. We also encourage Barbados to join and engage in the discussions on Services Domestic Regulation and E-commerce.
EU and Barbados have strong trade relationship anchored in the Economic Partnership Agreement applied for the last 14 years. This is a trade and development agreement offering duty-free-quota free access to the EU markets for CARIFORUM. The agreement has a strong regional dimension and in addition to trade in goods, it covers also trade in services and investments and provisions on trade-related issues (including competition, innovation and intellectual property, GIs, transparency in public procurement and trade and sustainable development). We would encourage Barbados to implement the full comprehensive scope of this agreement.
In particular, we would like to see progress on a timely implementation of the full range of tariff reductions, giving effect to the regional preferences, improving transparency over the applied preferential rates and to upgrade its applied HS nomenclature to the HS22 version.
In the current turbulent times, investment climate, trade openness and solid business links have proven crucial for economic recovery and a sound economic performance.
The regional dimension is very important under this agreement and we would like to congratulate you on your role to foster regional trade in the Caribbean. Regional integration and sustainable growth would play an important role in attracting investors.
Barbados is also a strong supporter of climate-related action and we appreciate Barbados’ objective to achieve a fossil-fuel-free economy and to strongly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
We also applaud Barbados continued work to achieve a CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), as well as Barbados’ focus on digital transformation - the National Electronic Single Window about to be implemented is one notable example of those efforts. The EU stands ready to assist Barbados in these endeavours. We welcome Barbados’ recent efforts to facilitate investments in renewable energies and digital technologies and to further promote green economy, especially in the tourism sector.
In its advance written questions, the EU has raised some issues, notably on prospect of acceding to international treaties in the area of intellectual property rights, new legislation on manufacturing, changes and timing about tariffs, and on CARICOM as well as CARIFORUM. There is also a need for further clarification of Barbados’ dual-licensing regime for imports as well as current and future procedures related to the importation of dairy and meat products, notably in view of the on-going reform and harmonization of the SPS legislation in Barbados. We also encourage Barbados to make progress in the area of intellectual property rights, which can bring more business certainty and confidence to Barbados as a business-friendly partner.
The EU acknowledges the difficult circumstances, which have affected Barbados since the previous review, and we congratulate Barbados in the commitment and progress to ensure economic recovery. We wish Barbados a successful fourth review. Thank you.