BOGOTA, Colombia, CMC – The third and final round of negotiations for an Advance Preferential Market Access agreement between Colombia and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is expected to take place later this year, to finalize the expanded agreement by the end of 2025.
The latest round of negotiations concluded here earlier this week, and the two days of discussions have been described as ”productive,” aimed at expanding preferential market access between the parties.
According to the delegates, the meeting “reaffirmed both sides’ commitment to deepening trade relations and strengthening regional economic integration, noting that the discussions focused on critical market access issues, including tariff mechanisms, product sensitivities, the exchange of trade data, and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards.
“These SPS measures are vital to protecting human, animal, and plant health from food safety risks, pests, and diseases. Both delegations exchanged detailed information on their respective tariff regimes and provided clarification on the rationale for excluding certain products from liberalization commitments within their offers”.
Antigua and Barbuda was represented at the two-day meeting by Juray Roberts, Project Development Officer, and Ileathea Cabral, Project Development and Research Officer, from the Office of the National Authorising Officer (NAO) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Barbuda Affairs.
Roberts said that “for Antigua and Barbuda, it remains critically important to preserve the protection of industries under Article 164 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, which allows Less Developed Countries (LDCs) within CARICOM to suspend preferential treatment on certain imports temporarily”.
She said that this safeguard supports local industrial development. Products protected under Article 164 continue to receive special treatment within the regional trading space until 2031.
Cabral also shared that the Antigua and Barbuda delegation expressed support for excluding from the CARICOM offer of preferential market access, goods listed under the ‘25 by 2025 plus5’ Regional Food Security Initiative, which aims to reduce CARICOM’s food import bill and bolster regional food resilience.
The meeting was informed that Suriname and Haiti have now been included in the 1995 Partial Scope Agreement between CARICOM and Colombia.
Suriname will accede as a More Developed Country (MDC), assuming only existing commitments without new liberalization obligations. At the same time, Haiti will join as a Less Developed Country (LDC) with similar exemptions.
The legal documentation is being finalized to formalize this accession, the meeting was told, with both CARICOM and Colombia acknowledging the need to balance economic sensitivities with commercial opportunities, and reaffirming their shared commitment to fostering inclusive, transparent, and development-oriented trade outcomes.
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