The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) currently being negotiated between Canada and CARICOM may not be completed before the end of the year, when the current arrangement—CARIBCAN—ends.

Canadian diplomat, Francois Montour, who ended his tour of duty as the country’s High Commissioner to Guyana last week, told Stabroek News in an interview that the negotiators were hoping to wrap up talks by the end of December “but now it seems that it may extend into next year. But it’s hard to say, we have negotiating teams that are working hard.”

CARIBCAN grants unilateral duty-free access to eligible goods from beneficiary countries in the English-speaking Caribbean up to the end of 2011. It is benefitting from an exemption from the World Trade Organisation and Montour stressed that…..