The Office of Trade Negotiations – Its Function, Structure and Mandate

History

In the mid 1980’s it became clear to the leaders of Caribbean Governments that external trade negotiations were going to be extremely important in helping the region adjust to the challenges of the changing international environment. It was also apparent that these negotiations were essential to enabling the Caribbean to take advantage of development opportunities in areas where the Caribbean may have potential competitive edge. 

Given the Region’s limited human and financial resources, external negotiations had to be approached in a coordinated, managed and systematic way to avoid use of these resources in an inefficient an ineffective manner. It was considered necessary to create an organization whose dedicated task would be to manage the negotiation process under direction of the Regional Governments.

In recognition of these challenges, the Conference of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), formally established the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) in April 1997 to develop, coordinate and execute an overall negotiating strategy for various external negotiations in which the Region was involved. At the behest of the CARICOM Member States, who principally constituted CRNM’s membership, the CRNM also represented the trade interests of the Dominican Republic and Cuba in specific negotiating arenas.

The CRNM underwent restructuring in order to streamline the logistics of its core function with operational and administrative systems of other related Community Organs, instruments and organizations.

Following a decision taken in March 12-13 2009 in Belize during the Twentieth Inter- Sessional Meeting of the Conference of the Heads, the CRNM was incorporated into the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat as a Specialized Department. Subsequently, another decision was taken by the Heads of Government during the 30th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) held 2-4 July 2009 in Guyana, to rename the CRNM as the Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN).

The CRNM, as the Office of Trade Negotiations of the CARICOM Secretariat, now has extended responsibility for the coordination, development, and execution of negotiating strategies for all Community external trade negotiations. The OTN is led by the Director General, Ambassador Gail Mathurin, whose appointment was confirmed in July 2009.

Mandate

The OTN is responsible for developing and maintaining a cohesive and effective framework for the coordination and management of CARICOM’s external trade negotiation resources and expertise. Our mission is to help Member States maximize the benefits of participating in global trade negotiations by

• Providing sound advice 
• Facilitating the generation of national positions 
• Coordinating the formulation of a cohesive negotiating strategy 
• Leading negotiations where appropriate

The Negotiations in Focus

The OTN engages in negotiations on four general levels:

• Multilateral Level – This includes negotiations within the World Trade Organization (WTO); 
• Inter-regional Level – This included the negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union; 
• The Hemispheric Level – This includes the negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. (FTAA). NB. These negotiations have been dormant since 2003; 
• Bilateral Level – This includes the negotiation of agreements between CARICOM and other countries such as: Canada, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic.

Structure and Functioning of the OTN

At all levels of negotiations, Trade and Foreign Ministers, their professional staff in Member State capitals, and their Representatives in centres such as Brussels and Geneva, have played, and continue to play essential roles in the negotiating process. The OTN is involved intimately in integrating these efforts in order to arrive at common regional negotiating positions.

The OTN management team is currently comprised of the Director-General, a Deputy Senior Director with overarching responsibility for technical work of the organization, a Director of Technical Cooperation, Partnerships and Information responsible for relations with the donor community and overall management of grant agreements; and a Director of Finance and Administration responsible for budget, finance and administration matters.

The technical team consists of CARICOM nationals who are experts in various issues which are the subject of the negotiations. During a negotiation, the mechanism designed to ensure coherence across the negotiating positions in several negotiating disciplines is a College of Negotiators. A College comprises Lead and Alternate Lead Negotiators for each of the negotiating arenas who actually undertake the negotiations under the overall coordination of the Dean of the College. Colleges meet periodically, and independently of a negotiation, to review developments in the respective negotiating arenas, and to discuss future strategies. Some of the OTN’s technical staff members serve alongside regional experts either as Lead Negotiators, or as Alternate Lead Negotiators within a College.

The governance structure established by the Heads of Government requires the OTN, as a Department of the CARICOM Secretariat, to report to the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) which gives the OTN guidance, and defines its negotiating mandate. The Director-General is also directly responsible to the Secretary-General of the CARICOM Secretariat.

OTN Offices

The primary office of the OTN is located in Barbados. The OTN also maintains an office in Jamaica and a presence in Guyana, the OECS (St. Lucia) and Geneva. Throughout the CARICOM-Canada negotiations, a presence will also be also maintained in Ottawa, Canada.

RNM Documents:

•  RNM Strategic Plan (333.59 kB)

RNM Activities:

•  IDB Funded Training Workshops (7.98 kB)