Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Commerce host workshop

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Commerce has been sensitizing its stakeholders about St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ WTO GATS commitments.{{more}}

Efforts to this end was done at a three-day workshop on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from July 21 – 23.

The workshop held at Joachim Associates Conference Room at Murrays Road, is one component of a technical assistance project funded by the ACP – EC Project Management Unit in Brussels, to assist St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ integration into the Multilateral Trading System.

The workshop, which was facilitated by a German Consultancy firm, BKP Development Research and Consulting GMBH, drew participants from the public and private sectors and civil society organizations.

The current state of play of the Services negotiations in the WTO were discussed at the workshop along with the examination of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Services Offers; St. Vincent and the Grenadines Regulatory regimes and Service sector development priorities; the role and benefits of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Coalition of Service Industries (SVGCSI) as well as an action plan for effective functioning of the SVGCSI in the interest of stakeholders.

Other components of this ACP – EC Project Management Unit technical assistance comprise: A comprehensive review of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Services sector standards and regulations by BKP Development Research and Consulting GMBH with a view to determining their adequacy or lack thereof; Development of a proposal for Mutual Recognition Agreement for professional; Development of a services

data base; and convening a second workshop in September 2010 to train stakeholders on trade analysis, research and negotiation skills.