CTO organizes training workshop on trade negotiations

Tourism stakeholders in Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) member countries are being given an opportunity to better prepare themselves to effectively participate in the ongoing trade negotiation process.

CTO has organized a two-day training workshop on Tourism Services Negotiation Issues to cover the fundamentals of trade negotiations. The workshop, to be held on October 2 and 3, 2003 at CTO headquarters in Barbados, will address the various services-related trade negotiations in which the Caribbean region is currently engaged.

These include the World Trade Organization/General Agreement in Trades in Services (WTO/GATS), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

“The outcome of these negotiations, particularly those at the World Trade Organization under the General Agreement in Trade in Services (GATS) are likely to have a profound impact on the way the tourism industry does business, and therefore on the development of this region,” said Karen Ford-Warner, deputy secretary general of the CTO.

“In order to ensure that the interests of Caribbean tourism stakeholders are put on the table, Caribbean trade negotiators need to be armed with national and regional negotiating positions that are derived from consultations and agreement between private and public sector tourism interests.”

“CTO is committed to playing a key role in strengthening the capacity and knowledge base of these stakeholders to enable more effective engagement in the trade negotiating process on an on-going basis,” Mrs. Ford-Warner added.