CONTACT Magazine (Vol.18 No.3 – December 2018)

looking outwards
Who do we
have trade
deals with?
Trinidad and Tobago already has trade
agreements in place with many of its
regional and international partners, all
designed to boost exports and make them
easier and less costly
WORDS BY: The Ministry of Trade and Industry,
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago has trade agreements with trading partners both as
part of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and on its own (bilaterally).
These agreements facilitate market access for local exporters to third
countries, and also provide for the opening up of the Trinidad and Tobago
market, except in the case of the USA, Canada and Venezuela, which are one-way
agreements in favour of Caricom.
These arrangements provide dual benefits to local companies, by facilitating
the importation of cost-effective inputs and assisting with price-competitiveness
in foreign markets, while providing opportunities for growth through exports. The
table outlines the ten preferential trading arrangements to which Trinidad and
Tobago is a party.
These agreements recognise the importance of trade in services as well as
goods, and thus in some cases include provisions for future negotiations in this area.
Economic and technical cooperation is a key feature of the trade agreement with
Colombia, as it promotes cooperation in a number of areas such as human resource
development, science and technology, and tourism, through exchanges among local
universities.
In addition, Trinidad and Tobago, as part of Cariforum, receives development
cooperation assistance under the European Development Fund for projects related
to economic development, social and human development, regional cooperation
and integration.
Challenges
The main issues encountered by
exporters when trading include access
to market information, difficulties in
meeting standards for products, access
to foreign exchange, and in some
instances distributor laws which act as
a deterrent.
Among other things, the Ministry
of Trade and Industry is actively seeking
to assist exporters with addressing
these issues through:
• trade missions, which provide
opportunities to gather first-hand
information
• exporter training and workshops,
to build capacity and share
information
• the implementation of lines of
credit for specific markets
• the strengthening of its Single
Electronic Window, TTBizLink, to
facilitate and simplify trade
• and the development and
implementation of policies.
Additionally, the agreements
provide a structure for the establishment
of a joint institution to address any
challenges which may arise between
the parties during implementation of
the respective agreements.
See following pages for details of the current
trade agreements
28
Trinidad
and Tobago Chamber
of Industry and Commerce
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine