Eliminating the information deficit for EU trade under the EPA

Since the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the CARIFORUM States and the EU and its Member States in 2008, one of the obstacles in the way of implementation has been an “information deficit” regarding awareness of the opportunities and benefits of the Agreement. The first five-year review of the EPA in 2015 found that CARIFORUM’s private sector faces challenges in converting the market access offered by the Agreement into meaningful market presence.

While the reasons for these challenges are complex, it is widely recognized that continued efforts to address the “information deficit” will go a long way towards developing the private sector’s internal capacity to benefit from the various trade opportunities that the EPA provides.

The second five-year review is scheduled for 2021, and since the success of the EPA largely hinges on economic operators effectively leveraging it in order to better contest the EU market, it would be useful if Bahamian voices are included in a region-wide survey to address the issue. The CARIFORUM Directorate has developed an Integrated Marketing and Communications (IMC) Strategy for the CARIFORUM EU EPA to increase knowledge and awareness among stakeholders such as civil society, private sector, academia, and Caribbean citizens of the benefits of the EPA to the Caribbean.

Guyenterprise Advertising Agency, Ltd has been contracted to support the operationalization and implementation of the strategy, including conducting a survey of regional organizations.

Those wishing to participate in the survey can access it here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GBVGS8Y

Picture of MOEA Communications Team

MOEA Communications Team

The Bahamas Ministry of Economic Affairs is the entity responsible for providing vision, strategic direction, policy, and information related to the movement of financial resources, economic diversification and growth.

Leave a Replay

Sign up for our Newsletter

Get weekly newsletter updates!