Caricom Trade Ministers yesterday agreed on the goods that Haiti will be able to export within the Single Market on a non-reciprocal preferential basis for three years.
According to a release from the Caricom Secretariat, an initial list comprising 42 items was agreed to after discussions at the 31st Ministerial Meeting of the Council For Trade and Economic Development (COTED) which finished yesterday in Georgetown. Haiti had made the request at the 30th COTED meeting in May and the ministers agreed to the request and CARICOM Heads of Government had endorsed the agreement.
Among the items agreed to are, paintings and drawings, peanut butter, corn flour, wooden table ware and kitchen ware, basketwork and cocoa beans. The concession becomes effective from January 1 next year. Member states will continue consultations towards approval of the additional items from the original list which Haiti submitted.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Senator Joanne Massiah, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Chair of the meeting, said that Haiti posed unique challenges. She said that in addition to supporting the temporary concessionary request, the Council should also map the technical assistance requirement of Haiti for their eventual participation in the CSME.
