Mr. Lawrence Placide
Secretary
Lawrence Placide is an International Trade Specialist with particular expertise in trade in services. He is a member of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery College of Negotiators for the Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations (Lead Negotiator for Services) and for the negotiation of an Economic Partnership Agreement with European Union (Alternate Lead Negotiator for Services and Investment). Mr. Placide has been involved in every major international trade negotiation conducted by Trinidad and Tobago since his return to the country in 1996, representing first Government and then private sector interests.
His 21-year professional career spans the Trinidad and Tobago public and private sector. He also has extensive experience in providing expertise to the regional public and private sector.
Based in Geneva at Trinidad and Tobago’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations between 1989 and 1995, Mr. Placide was primarily responsible for GATT, and then WTO matters but also followed developments at UNCTAD, ILO and UNIDO. In the course of his duties, he was among the delegation of Trinidad and Tobago to the Brussels and Marrakesh Ministerial Sessions. He joined the Foreign Service of Trinidad and Tobago in 1984 and served in the Political and Economic Division until his transfer to Geneva.
From January 2001 to July 2002, he was Vice President, Trade and Industry at the Tourism and Industrial Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago (TIDCO). The Trade and Industry Division was responsible for providing a range of trade-related services to the private sector in Trinidad and Tobago. These services included export promotion (including external trade missions), trade information, trade support, trade harmonization, certification of exports, and trade negotiation.
Since 2002, he has been the Director of the International Trade Negotiations Unit of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce. There he interacts intensively with the private sector in Trinidad and Tobago. Among his responsibilities are sensitizing and involving the Private Sector stakeholders in the on-going international and regional trade negotiations, providing trade information and advice and export promotion activities on behalf of the private sector.
In 2003 he was appointed Lead Negotiator for CARICOM at the FTAA Negotiating Group on Services and in 2005 was appointed as Alternate Lead Negotiator for CARICOM in Investment and Services for the negotiation of an Economic Partnership Agreement with Europe, a position he still holds today. He has also been part of the negottating team of Trinidad and Tobago in the negotiation of bilateral agreements with the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Mexico and Cuba.
Mr. Placide has served as a Consultant on issues related to international trade and trade in services. His clients have included the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery, the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Tourism Organization, the International Trade Centre, various international consulting firms and a number of private sector entities in Trinidad and Tobago. He is Secretary of the Board of the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Service Industries. He holds a B.A. in Political Studies from Queen’s University, Ontario and a post-graduate Diploma in International Relations from the University of the West Indies.