The WTO General Council on 30 November 2011 approved a new waiver for CARIBCAN until December 31  2013. Canada’s application for the waiver became necessary in order to preserve CARICOM’s  preferential access whilst the two Sides complete their negotiations of a new WTO- compatible trade agreement.

During the margins of the WTO Ministerial Conference, CARICOM  and  Canada  met  in  discussions where  both Sides took stock of the progress achieved to date in the negotiations and considered the steps that, in light of the Parties’ ambitions and sensitivities, will become necessary in order to complete the negotiations within the currently available timeframe implicit in the new waiver.

It should be noted that since the launch of negotiations for a CARICOM-Canada Trade and Development Agreement in  November  2009,  three Rounds  of  Negotiations  have been  held.    While  the  first  two  Rounds  allowed  both Sides to articulate their broad perspectives and approaches regarding the negotiations, textual negotiations commenced during the Third Round in April 2011.   To date, while Canada has tabled textual proposals in all subject areas, CARICOM has tabled textproposals in Fourteen (14) subject areas.

 

  OTN Special Update-An Update on the CARIOM-Canada Negotiations for a Trade and Development Agreement (203.07 kB)