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the region. Moreover, it is estimated that con-
sumer food products account for over 50 per
cent of the Caribbean’s annual imports from the
United States, comprising mainly poultry, red
meats, dairy products, and processed fruits and
vegetables. This volume of imports suggests that
there is scope for substituting these products
with increased domestic production. This can
be facilitated by achieving greater economies
of scale through the expansion of agriculture in
the larger countries such as Guyana and Suri-
name. The brief notes that some businesses in
Trinidad and Tobago are investing in food pro-
duction in Guyana.
The study also pointed out that establishing
intra-regional transportation linkages that fa-
cilitate intra-regional trade and the movement
of people has been a major challenge in the Ca-
ribbean.This occurs because transportation costs
among island communities are much higher than
costs between the region and metropolitan econ-
omies.The brief suggests the need for a revamped
approach to regional air and sea transport,with
better incentives for private sector investment and
public private partnerships (PPPs) to absorb some
of the costs.
The brief suggested that the telecommuni-
cations sector in the region needs to be fully
liberalized to reduce costs and improve its qual-
ity.This improvement could facilitate trade and
investment in addition to raising the efficiency in
other sectors.The paper concluded that the region
needs to design its own blend of market-based
and government-supported approaches to tackle
the binding constraints alluded to,which impede
economic restructuring and diversification.
Opening Lines
The ability of the sugar industry in the
region to survive after the removal of produc-
tion quotas in the European Union (EU) on 30
September, 2017,will depend on improved
competitiveness and pragmatic diversification
options, according to a Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) Secretariat official.
The end of EU’s quota management for
sugar is expected to lead to a fall in prices
towards the international sugar price and a
decrease in sugar imports from the African
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, with par-
ticular impact on Caribbean producers.
In an address on March 23rd to the open-
ing of a regional policy workshop in Kings-
ton, Jamaica, that addressed the Caribbean
Sugar Industry Post-2017, CARICOM Secretariat
ProgramManager for Agriculture and Indus-
try,Nisa Surujbally, said that securing more
remunerative markets, value addition and an
enabling policy regime within the CARICOM
Single Market and Economy (CSME) were also
very important to the industry’s survival.
“We have witnessed major structural
changes in the operations of our sugar in-
dustries, including the exit from sugar pro-
duction of two member states, Trinidad and
Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis. Nevertheless,
Stakeholders Discuss aWay Forward
for Regional Sugar Industry