Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community at the Sixth Special Meeting of the Conference held on 16^th April 1999 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, reviewed the impact on the Caribbean Community of the rulings by the WTO Panel on the revised European Union Banana Regime.

As a result of the deliberations, the CARICOM leaders issued the following statement:

STATEMENT ON BANANAS BY CARICOM HEADS OF GOVERNMENT

Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community at the Sixth Special Meeting of the Conference held on 16^th April1999 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, reviewed the impact on the Caribbean Community of the rulings by the WTO Panel on the revised European Union Banana Regime.

The Heads reiterated their deep appreciation of the firm and principled position taken by the European Union in responding to the challenges of the Regime. They noted that in so doing, the Member States of the EU had stood by their commitments under the Lome Convention.

The Heads of Government noted that a regulated EU market for bananas had brought benefits to all concerned. They concluded that the rulings represented the single most dangerous threat to the economies of the Caribbean banana exporting countries and that the implementation of the Panel’s rulings, without consideration to the vulnerability of the Caribbean banana industry, would lead to severe social and economic dislocations throughout the Region.

They noted that the various recommendations by the Panel, on making the Banana Regime WTO consistent, would, if implemented, be detrimental to the Caribbean and other ACP States.

They recalled that the Panel had recognized in its ruling, that the fundamental principles and rules of the WTO are designed to foster development, not destroy it and that the system is flexible enough to allow appropriate policy responses in a wide variety of circumstances to countries that are heavily dependent on the production and commercialization of bananas. The Heads noted that these principles are in fact no different from those enshrined in the Lome Convention.

Recognizing the importance of achieving an early and lasting solution of these matters – not least in the interest of the people of the Caribbean whose livelihood is under threat – the Heads of Government have charged their technical team to urgently complete its analysis of the Panel’s rulings. They agreed that the Caribbean will seek to work closely with the ACP banana exporting countries of Africa to fashion an ACP response, which safeguards their shared interests.

Heads of Government are convinced that with real political will on all sides and an understanding by all concerned of the manifold interests at stake, a fair settlement is attainable. To that end, CARICOM Heads of Government agree as a matter of urgency that they will hold discussions on these issues with leaders of the European Union, the United States, the wider Caribbean and with other interested parties.

19 April 1999