The Bahamas initials EPA trade in services and investment
The Bahamas has initialled on 25 January 2010 its trade in services and investment commitments with the EU as part of the Economic Parnership Agreement which links the EU and 15 Caribbean States.
At the end of the Cariforum-EU negotiations in 2007, The Bahamas was not in a position to present an offer on services and investment. It was therefore agreed that The Bahamas would not participate in the services and investment part of the EPA pending the completion of negotiations on the specific commitments on services and investment. In the meantime, the advantages resulting from the EU commitments contained in the EU-Cariforum agreement would not be extended to The Bahamas.
The Bahamas' offer initialled encompasses a whole range of economic sectors, including manufacturing, telecommunications, transport, financial services and tourism. Following the initialling, the commitments will need to be formally endorsed by the EU-Cariforum Trade and Development Committee, an institution created by the EU-Cariforum EPA.
The EU-Cariforum agreement was signed on 15 October 2008 and provisionally applied as of 29 December 2008. It provides for, among other things, the gradual and asymmetric liberalisation of services and investment between the Caribbean signatories and the EU. The objective of these provisions is to facilitate trade in services and investment.
The Cariforum region includes 15 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Haiti signed the Agreement on 10 December 2009. The EPA is not yet applied by Haiti pending its ratification, which is now delayed due to the dramatic events there.
(source DG Trade EU Commission)
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