NAIROBI, Kenya (CMC) – The Caribbean Community (Caricom) Wednesday called on the World Trade Organization (WTO) to be part of a to join a successful year for multilateral diplomacy by delivering trade deals which will drive global economic growth and uplift the poor.

Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, AJ Nicholson, addressing the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference here on behalf of the 15-member regional grouping, said “2015 has been a good year so far for multilateralism.

“The decisions taken on Financing for Development, the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and most recently, COP21, give us hope that the world community can collectively find solutions to pressing global issues. Caricom hopes that this meeting in Nairobi will take meaningful decisions which will signal that the multilateral trading system, embodied in the WTO, can do the same,” he added.

Nicholson said that Caricom has been a strong supporter of a rules-based multilateral trading system, recalling that the region joined the consensus to launch the Doha Work Programme, commonly known as the Doha Development Round.

“This round promised that issues of particular concern to developing countries, including small and vulnerable economies and least developed countries, would be at the heart of our work and decisions.

“Our countries engaged fully in the Doha negotiations in Geneva and with the close involvement of our capitals,” he said, adding, “we emphasised the principles of special and differential treatment and less than full reciprocity.”

But he said at the same time, Caricom has recognised that it would be required to undertake new commitments once agreement was reached.

“In this context, we are pleased that five of our member states have already ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement, adopted at the Bali Ministerial Meeting.

“Caricom continues to support the Doha Development Round. We regret that after 14 years of negotiations, we have not been able to reach an agreement which would have delivered the development dimension which brought us to the negotiating table.

“We recognise that it may be necessary to discuss, post Nairobi, appropriate ways in which we can address the issues in the Doha Agenda, in order to achieve successful outcomes.”

Nicholson said that it is vital that the WTO members preserve and secure the progress achieved over the past years, particularly those contained in the ministerial decisions and negotiating texts which relate to special and differential treatment, less than full reciprocity, special measures and flexibilities for small and vulnerable economies and least developed countries.

“We hope, therefore, that we will be able to adopt, inter alia, decisions relating the G90 proposals on Special and Differential treatment provisions including those related to small, vulnerable economies and least developed countries; agricultural issues, including the Special Safeguard Mechanism, which was proposed by the G33 in November, 2015; Fisheries Subsidies; the Work Programme on Small Economies; and special measures for least developed countries,” he told the conference.