Caribbean Trade Ministers Meet in Guyana
Wednesday May 11, 3:16 pm ET
Caribbean Trade and Agriculture Ministers Meet in Guyana to Discuss Sugar, Free Trade
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) -- Caribbean trade and agriculture ministers who begin a meeting in Guyana on Wednesday night plan to step up demands for European Union funds to buy new equipment for sugar factories, an official said.
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The five Caribbean Community countries that still have sugar industries want the money to replace outdated mills and other equipment to make sugar production competitive, Jamaica Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke said.
The move comes ahead of EU plans to slash sugar prices by up to 37 percent between 2006 and 2008. The five Caribbean Community countries that still have active sugar industries are Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Clarke spoke as sugar executives wrapped up a two-day meeting vowing to press the EU to keep promises to help the region reduce dependence on sugar and to bring down the cost of production, already too high countries in including Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
Recommendations from the meeting of executives will be passed on to the ministers for discussion over the next three days.
Other topics on the agenda include stalled talks involving the Free Trade Area of the Americas, plans by the 15-member Caribbean Community regional economic bloc to establish an EU-style single trading market by year's end.
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