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Responding to calls for speedier action on matters related to Caricom integration, and for firm decisions on issues at hand,Cheap China Jerseys, regional trade ministers ended their recent meeting with a number of agenda items being satisfactorily addressed.Caricom’s Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) convened its 32nd meeting last Thursday and Friday in Guyana at the Pegasus Hotel, with the three opening speakers calling for faster movement towards the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), and urging that decisions be made on all issues on the meeting’s agenda so that they do not re-appear as items for discussion at the next forum of its kind.At the conference’s opening, it was announced that the agenda ranged from matters relating to CSME, transportation, creative/cultural activities, free movement and contingent rights, consumer protection, rising fuel and food prices,Cheap Jerseys From China, private sector organizational issues, and internal and external economic trade relations. One of the main items for discussion was the impact of the rising cost of fuel and commodities on the regional economies.“The agenda before us is a long and serious one. Alarmingly, it is one that we have seen before,” commented Barbados Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and COTED Chairman, Maxine McClean. Noting that COTED was responsible for advancing the economic development of the region she asserted, “We cannot continue to take decisions simply for the record and not take steps to implement them”.An end of meeting release issued by the Caricom Secretariat stated that action was taken on matters relating to suspension of some imports from the Common External Tariff, and its reduction or elimination on food production inputs; quicker pace on the Jagdeo initiative; use of available land in Guyana and Belize for increased food output; government procurement policy; and merger controls within the region.The other two persons addressing delegates at the opening session were conference host, Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, and Acting Caricom Secretary-General Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite.Minister Rodrigues-Birkett had noted that, “Our agenda is populated with some critical institutional and infrastructural issues, some of which have been with the COTED for over a decade. While we must exercise great care to fashion efficient and acceptable arrangements, we have to be cognizant of the increasingly competitive global environment we are operating in, and the demand on the Community, from within and without,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, to act with utmost urgency.”Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite had emphasised, “These discussions are taking place in an environment in which the relevance of our integration movement is being increasingly questioned. This year so far has been devoted to introspection and a focus on the priorities for our integration movement in all our Councils.”At that time she reflected that at an Inter-Sessional Meeting, held February last year, Caricom Heads of Government had agreed that the objective of the regional agenda should be focused on improving lives of people of the Caribbean Community.“In seeking to achieve that goal, our leaders … identified in 1989 the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) as the cornerstone of these efforts. There is an agreement that we need to quicken the pace of our integration process, as further delay has implications, not only for the internal affairs of the Community but also for its engagement with Third States and Groups of States.”The Caricom media release after the conference stated that trade ministers decided meeting on the immediate establishment of a technical team to determine a list of goods for consideration for suspension of the Common External Tariff (CET) for a two-year period.In addition,Cheap China Jerseys, that technical team will determine the reduction or elimination of CET on some inputs and equipment used in food production and preparation with the aim of reducing the cost of production and delivery of food within the region.Ministers also agreed that urgent action should be taken to advance the implementation of policy actions such as the Jagdeo Initiative, the Common Fisheries Policy and the Regional Food and Nutrition Security Policy (RFNSP). They took note of the work being undertaken on the RFNSP action plan in response to rising food prices and recommended policy action to address the short, medium,Wholesale NBA Jerseys China, and long-term constraints to agricultural development.The meeting also urged member states to take up offers made by Belize and Guyana to make land available for increased production of food.With regard to government procurement,Wholesale Jerseys From China, COTED approved the Caricom Framework Policy on Public Procurement. There was agreement to submit the approved policy to the Inter-Governmental Task Force for negotiation of the Protocol to revise the Treaty of Chaguaramas.The government procurement market within Caricom is estimated at between US$22-30 billion annually.  Implementation of the regional procurement policy will open up this multi-billion-dollar market to suppliers within the CSME.Ministers also agreed that procurement officials would continue to meet to discuss implementation of the policy arrangements such as an electronic regional information system; a Caricom electronic public procurement notice board; a joint bidding facility; and enabling legislation.The Caricom release further stated that after years of policy and legal review, COTED welcomed completion of a Model Consumer Protection Bill, and has recommended it for approval by the Legal Affairs Committee. Key to the protection of consumers is the development of a rapid response system for the exchange of information on dangerous goods.COTED took the first important step towards extension of CARICOM rules of competition under Chapter Eight of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas to include a policy for mergers and acquisitions.On the basis of a policy study which was completed in 2010, COTED endorsed 13 core recommendations which would comprise the central elements of the policy and referred the issue of merger control for inclusion in the revision of the Treaty. The Meeting also approved the reconstitution of the Competition Task Force to refine the policy and to prepare rules for the control of mergers and acquisitions in the CSME.