The row over a cement trade which developed last week between Jamaica and the Dominican Republic (DR) raises an even more fundamental problem about that Spanish-speaking partner’s relations with the Caribbean Community in general.
In the current dispute, Jamaica’s Minister of Investment and Commerce Karl Samuda has publicly condemned the application by the DR of non-tariff barriers to cement imports by the locally-based ‘Carib Cement’ enterprise.
The row erupted following two weeks of recurring problems experienced by the cement company over clearance of its product in the DR.
The two member states of the CARIFORUM group (CARICOM plus the DR), that’s linked with the European Union, are signatories to the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU that provides for free trade in commodities including cement.
Traditionally, they have been good trading partners and it is, therefore, understandable why the Jamaica government has been disappointed by this development that affects a US$250 000 competitive trade deal involving Carib Cement.
Samuda has threatened reprisal unless the DR authorities move expeditiously to resolve impasse.
The DR is not yet a member of CARICOM, which it is seeking to join. But, like Jamaica, it would be aware that within CARICOM dispute settlement mechanisms exist to deal with bilateral problems such as erupted in the case of Carib Cement.
Whatever the trade settlement mechanism that exists between the DR and Jamaica, it is to be hoped that good judgement would trump any tit-for-tat approach.
Even so, there remains lingering uneasiness in the DR’s relations with CARICOM as became evident just last month with its surprising public call for a restructuring of CARIFORUM that could result, for a start, in the 15-member group having its own secretary general, instead of depending on the secretary general of CARICOM.
What is quite surprising is that the DR should have chosen last month’s meeting of CARICOM Council of Ministers in Belize to raise this sensitive demand when it knows that its own membership application is yet to be negotiated within the context of established norms.
