Even as representatives of state and private sector agencies in the Caribbean and Africa were assembling in Barbados last week to seek to create a ‘road map’ for the cementing of closer business ties between the two regions, the International Trade Centre (ITC), a joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), was launching a new report that says that there exists US$1 billion in export potential between the Caribbean and Africa.
The gathering in Barbados would almost certainly have been enthused by the news that the ITC and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) had extended their already existing five-year partnership which seeks, among other things, to help tackle the challenge of trade barriers and build business capacity in both Africa and the Caribbean. The development would likely have enhanced the prospects for the longer-term success of the objectives of the recent Barbados forum.
