BARBADOS and the rest of the region have proven their capacity to generate a service trade.
However, the region has been criticised for failing to export its services appropriately and for not negotiating sufficient market access.
This according to the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries, Dav-Ernan Kowlessar, who also said it was one thing to generate and produce a product, but wealth . only came when it was traded.
He made the comments recently during a Press conference following a two-day workshop oil Organising Service Sector Stakeholders To Meet The Challenges Of Development And Trade Liberalisation at the Almond Beach Resort, St Peter.
Kowlessar said that while countries in the region were capable of generating services, they needed to be’ able to trade them in the market.
"That is what the EPA (Economic Partnership Agreements) negotiations are about. The negotiations in the EPA provide a good avenue for such", he said.
He was supported by the executive director, of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, Taiana Mora- Ramis, who said the greatest potential the region had in the EPA negotiations existed in. the services sector.
"To diversify the exports of the region’s services sector is where the greatest potential of the region lies. It is critical that the services provide the sub-division to give negotiators the tools they need to negotiate a better deal", she said. (JR,-B).
