Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 6 • Number 17 • 6th October 2006

Caribbean Ministers Call for Doha Revival, Raise Climate Concerns

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Six Caribbean foreign ministers discussed the lack of progress in recent global trade negotiations, threats posed by climate change and the need for multilateral solutions at the UN General Assembly on 27 September. They called for more trade benefits and less greenhouse gas emissions.

While deploring the suspension of the Doha round in July this year, the ministers reminded UN members of the special situation of small island developing states, calling for special consideration in trade agreements and stressing the importance of trade preferences. “Fundamental to a viable and equitable trade regime is the need to take account of the wide disparity in structural characteristics and approaches to economic policy among the many members of the WTO, and the consequent need for flexibility,” said Jamaica Foreign Minister Anthony Hylton. “The international community must come to grips with the fact that ‘one size fits all’ approach is inappropriate and impractical,” Saint Lucia Minister Petrus Compton added.

Bahamas Foreign Minister Frederick Mitchell drew attention to the threat that climate change poses to the small and vulnerable economies of the Caribbean. “To a small-island developing state, there are few things more important than securing the necessary assistance in order to build resilience against the many hazards that afflict our country on a consistent basis, including the violent storms that pass through our region even more frequently as a result of global warming,” he said.

Countries represented include Grenada, St. Lucia, Jamaica, Bahamas, Dominica, Belize, and Guyana.

“Small island States discuss trade, environment and collective action during UN debate,” UN NEWS CENTRE, 27 September 2006.