REPORT #523 September 2002
FREE TRADE AND THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION, IS NOT TO THE ADVANTAGE OF THE CARIBBEAN AND CENTRAL AMERICAN COUNTRIES, DEBATE!


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from Jorge I. Varela

Not only did the EU/US increase the subsidies following the meetings in Uruguay, but they also reduced certain quotas such as sugar thereby reducing the size of our export market. In the case of the U.S. they went further by charging higher taxes on everything but raw sugar ensuring the profit portion of processing and packaging remain stateside. Now I understand protecting one's own market, but intimidating others into opening theirs while closing one's own is hypocritical.

Frank, in your opinion, is Belize able to produce sufficient agro-products to feed it's population? It would seem to me that GOB can level the field simply by increasing the import duties on food items that we can produce. This would by it's very nature cause the local agro-businesses to increase it's market and therefore generate greater profitability. They should not, however, be so ready to increase duties on items which are produced by a sole Belize company as the company would have carte blanche (a la BTL) to price their product.

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