The Shridath Ramphal Centre (Cave Hill, UWI) and the Institute of International Relations (St. Augustine, UWI) came together to host the inaugural Henry Gill Memorial Lecture on 17 March 2021 to celebrate the life and work of Henry S. Gill: Caribbean trade and international relations expert who was crucial in the successful negotiation of the CARIFORUM-EU EPA in 2008.

Mr Pascal Lamy, Former WTO Director General delivered the inaugural lecture entitled, “Doha Development Agenda Negotiations 20 Years On: Reflections on Trade and Development.”  In his remarks, Mr Lamy highlighted that, as compared to the earlier times when the preoccupation of the trade agenda was with issues of trade “protectionism”, today’s main issues centred around “precautionism” and regulatory convergence over standards to protect against risks to their consumers – whether in food safety, the environment, data/privacy etc.  He noted that special and differential treatment has limited relevance in such a precautionist agenda and that Caribbean countries must therefore recalibrate their trade policy to be better prepared for these new issues. As a member of the CARICOM Commission on the Economy, he also urged CARICOM Member States to reinvest in regional integration with a focus on free movement of products, people and data. A recording of the full lecture is available here:  https://youtu.be/AsjfTJdsy8M

At the SRC, we aim to encourage critical thinking on Caribbean economic development and trade.  We are therefore calling on academics, students and policy makers interested in Caribbean trade issues to present their thoughts/recommendations/ideas – of 1000-1500 words – on Mr Lamy’s remarks.  Successful entries will be published on our website as part of the SRC Trading Thoughts and in our SRC Newsletter publications.  Deadline for your entries is 25 March 2021. 

For more information contact Jan Yves Remy at: janyvesremy@cavehill.uwi.edu