The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

UNITED States Trade Representatives say they are interested in expanding the market for imports to the Bahamas, according to Financial Services Minister Ryan Pinder.

He said Bahamian officials met with some 25 members of the USTR last week in Washington DC to discuss the Bahamas’ accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The group had an “intense and really dedicated discussion” which lasted around eight hours and covered “every aspect” of trade and the “true concerns” of both countries, Mr Pinder said.

“We had a very constructive level of meetings with a variety of personnel from the USTR in Washington. Probably some 25 representatives came in to meet with us and our team and we have an understanding on the way forward. We understand their concerns and their areas of interest and they understand ours,” Mr Pinder said.

“They look to have revised offers both in the context of what we offer in services ... and then there’s certain items in trade with respect to goods that they would like to see us accomplish.”

Mr Pinder doesn’t anticipate revising the context of what the Bahamas offers in services to be a “big issue,” explaining: “We’re actually rather liberal in services as it is and the first offer was a little deficient on really the operations of what happens on the ground in the Bahamas.”

And when they speak to revising “certain items in trade” they suggested lowering the tariff rates, Mr Pinder said.

“Again, we don’t see that as a large impediment and we’re going to revise our offers, consistent with instructions from Cabinet, and go ahead on that.”

The minister said USTR interest lies primarily in “opening the market for their imports to the Bahamas” while the Bahamas is interested in ensuring that domestic industry is protected.

“I made the point – water manufacturing I saw that’s been in the press recently this week – that we have a number of manufacturers of water in the Bahamas and it’s a very important industry for us,” Mr Pinder said.

“It’s a very important industry for us to be able to provide the support necessary for it because it employs a lot of Bahamians and is generally owned by Bahamians. So I made that point. They didn’t understand that, and that’s what the usefulness of this dialogue was, for us to be able to describe why we’ve maintained certain positions in our offer on certain items because we’re looking to preserve employment, preserve Bahamian entrepreneurism; and I think that was a very instructive part of the dialogue to be able to explain these items to them, and they came away with a very receptive position on it.”

The nation’s agriculture industry is another area Mr Pinder wants to preserve.

“I made the point that after 9/11 we had a challenge in the Bahamas, as we all know, on food security matters and being able to import food,” he said.

“We want a policy of advancing agriculture as a government in a modern day fashion for the interest of food security and Bahamian advancement. They understood the position on that and were very receptive of that,” he said.

Mr Pinder also noted that the US’ agriculture sector is willing to provide assistance for sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures in the Bahamas.