Private sector data missing in TT trade talksThursday, October 22 2009
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Mariano Browne...
Trade Minister Mariano Browne said this country’s ability to negotiate in trade talks was often hamstrung by a lack of data from the private sector.
“This does not help the country,” he said while addressing participants at a Cariforum/EU EPA forum at the Hilton Trinidad Conference Centre.
On Tuesday, Central Bank senior economist Dominic Stoddard speaking at a breakfast forum organised by the Employers Consultative Association (ECA) made the point that companies that complain about the inability to get statistics have only themselves to blame.
He referred to a recent economic survey sent to 144 companies, where only 38 responded.
This, he said, was not good enough especially if companies wanted to know how economic indicators are going to affect them.
Greig Laughlin, president of Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturing Association (TTMA) said local companies might have been reluctant to respond for fear of how information might be used and that companies would want an assurance that the information is going to be used for statistical purposes.
Yesterday, Browne said negotiators often had to rely on their “best judgement” during trade talks and this was not good enough and said the private sector needed to see the bigger picture.
For TT to stay on top during trade negotiations all sectors must be able to provide up-to-date information, Browne said.
He noted that a crucial difference between developed and developing was that they had an organised approach to negotiating trade positions. “We are no longer operating in a space, we are on the world stage,” he said.
