St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a party to several trade agreements. The existence of these trading arrangements coupled with the dynamics of trade requires a harmonized approach to address trade issues in order to optimize the opportunities presented by these arrangements.
The private sector and civil society have played an instrumental role in influencing aspects of trade agreements in the past and they continue to occupy an important place in national development.
However, a robust consultative framework that enables these parties to converge and dialogue trade and trade-related issues in a structured and effective manner is desirable.
It is against this background that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Commerce under its Hubs & Spokes II programme, is convening a meeting on Thursday, October 6, 2016, at the Ministry’s Conference Room. The meeting is aimed at exploring and discussing the establishment/strengthening of the consultative mechanism among public sector, the private sector and civil society on trade and trade-related issues. The meeting starts with the registration of participants at 8:30 am.
The objectives of the meeting are:
To strengthen the consultative mechanism for engaging private sector and civil society on trade and trade-related issues in order to enable the Ministry to articulate the interests of stakeholders in various trade for an on the basis of well-founded guidance;
To strengthen and provide a framework for dialoguing trade and trade-related issues in a more pragmatic approach with a view to making policy implementation more effective and
To begin a process for more robust consultative mechanism against the backdrop of existing, new and emerging realities in international trade.
The meeting is expected among others to:
Identify and agree on a consultative framework/mechanism that is both structured and recognized by the private sector and civil society on trade and trade-related issues.
Strengthen the consultation mechanism and accelerate the time required in consultation while enhancing the dissemination/sharing of information with the private sector civil society.
In this regard, the Ministry is pleased to invite you to cover the opening session of the meeting which commences at 9:00 am.
We look forward to your representation.
