(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)We meet here this evening in these convivial surroundings to participate in the Opening Festivities of what I am sure will be an enlightening and productive observance of National Services Week, here in Trinidad and Tobago, and to recognise and celebrate the achievement of outstanding service providers, including our youth.

I was particularly pleased and impressed that there is a specific award for the Best Use of Innovation in Service Delivery, as the issue of innovation strikes at the core of our ability to survive as countries and as a Region, including in the increasingly global market for services.

This occasion provides a psychological opportunity to pause and reflect, albeit for a short while, on how we might shift gears in order to position our Region to take advantage of this growing and ever changing market.

The increasing global integration of our economies has been shaped by a number of factors and has, in no small measure, contributed to the rising importance of the services sector worldwide. Here in our Region, we are only too aware of the centrality of this sector to the growth and development of our countries.

The service sector is the largest sector of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy and also the largest sector of the economies of most Members of the Community. As a matter of fact, based on figures available, this sector accounted for over three-quarters of total GDP within the Caribbean Community between 2000 and 2008. There is no reason to expect that there has been any significantly differing trend in the three years since then.

Not surprisingly, the service sector also employs the most persons within the Community, and worthy of note is that it is an area of our economies in which gender equity of opportunity is quite marked. Here in Trinidad and Tobago for example, the service sector share of total employment is over eighty percent. In addition to the significance of the sector in relation to GDP and job creation, when one considers the crucial role of services as inputs to other sectors such as manufacturing, and also as to the influence which the sector wields in determining the overall investment climate of our countries and Region, to neglect this sector will be to our peril.

Ensuring the competitiveness of this sector is therefore of primary importance. In the present global climate, competitiveness is a moving target and not a state that is achieved once and for all, or for any significant period.

What are some of the forces that continue to shape the burgeoning contribution of services to our development, and to international trade and what is the concomitant need for innovation and competitiveness? The new Information and Communication Technologies which have been continually mainstreamed within the past two decades must be considered the major driver of these developments.

These technologies are now pervasive in our economic, social and personal lives, to the extent that many of us can hardly imagine life without them. We need them to do our on-line banking, on-line shopping, and other business, on-line studying, on-line matchmaking, on-line social networking, on-line collaboration in professional fields, on line access to professional help, and the list goes on.

To date, I’m not aware of on-line barbering or hairdressing, but one never knows!

Yes, the new technologies have certainly shaped and reshaped the possibilities for trading in services and have opened up new vistas that we could not have envisaged in our wildest dreams three decades ago.

These technologies have put within our reach, services to which many of us in the Region would not have previously had easy access. This was brought home to me when a colleague explained that she had just done an MRI examination in one of our Member States, known for its shortage of radiologists with that specialisation, and was able to get the detailed reports by email within twelve hours. The solution – technicians perform the scan and send the film to radiologists in India!

The possibility of supplying an increasing range of services remotely puts developing countries and regions such as ours in a position to exploit new avenues for achieving comparative advantage.

Another factor driving opportunities for services is to be found in the emerging modes of production characterised by the fragmentation of production and in the service industries themselves, and the resulting outsourcing, especially of specific sets of contributory services. This has also resulted in increased opportunities in the sector.

The extent to which these opportunities become real, and not remain a mirage for us, is linked, not only to the more obvious trade and economic parameters, but equally so, to our capacity to develop the quality of human resources necessary to drive innovation and to remain competitive in this rapidly changing market.

Several recent studies have highlighted the fact that far too many of our young people leave our education systems inadequately prepared, as far as both their skills and their attitudes, to take advantage of the new opportunities. The recent (2010) Report of the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development (CCYD) highlighted this situation very vividly through the voices of the youth themselves.

This is of course evidenced in the high levels of unemployment and underemployment among our youth, existing alongside skill shortages in many areas of the labour market. Interestingly, youth unemployment is currently higher among young women (by approximately eight percent), in spite of their superior education achievement.

Youth unemployment is a worrying situation for our Region, especially given its links to crime and violence. The Youth Commission’s Report also noted, based on a cost-benefit analysis, that reducing the rate of youth unemployment to levels in the adult population would contribute a growth in the Saint Lucian economy, for example, of 2.46 per cent of GDP. For St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the growth would be of the order of 2.3 per cent, for Haiti 1.3 per cent and for Belize 1.1 per cent.

In the new economy and in the service sector in particular, there is increasingly less room for low-skilled labour. The achievement of the required competitiveness demands higher levels of education tailored to the skills required in the economy, and a commitment to lifelong learning, as skills become obsolete at an increased rate.

The continuing tooling and retooling of our workforce at both technical and managerial levels is an imperative for competition.

Competitiveness in services is increasingly based on our ability to develop and incorporate the results of research into our actual service processes and marketing, but importantly, also on our attitudes towards innovation and entrepreneurship. These issues are universally important, whether we are considering financial services, tourism services, education and healthcare services, cultural services, utilities, or any other.

There is no substitute for access to a critical mass of appropriately trained and qualified persons with the necessary attributes for service delivery, management and marketing.

I wish to touch briefly on the issue of policy. The organisation of our Region to take optimum advantage of opportunities depends on common understanding with regard to our current competitive position, assessment of options and the delineation of a path towards the achievement of our desired objectives.

Notwithstanding the economic significance of Services, there is still no regional policy and plan for the sector. More importantly, no Member State has a comprehensive services sector plan which harnesses the full potential of the sector. This is not to say that there are no sub-sector plans. Indeed all Member States have a National Health Sector Plan and a National Education Plan. Some have plans that link some sub-sectors into clusters. However, none has a plan that links all the sub-sectors within the services sector.

Work is therefore being undertaken to assist Member States in developing their national services sector policies and plans, as well as to develop a Regional Policy and Plan for Services. This is being done under the leadership of the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, who has been assigned Lead Responsibility for Services in the quasi-cabinet of the Conference of the Heads of Government of the Community. Initially, specific focus will be given to Financial Services, Information and Communication Technologies, Professional Services, Education Services, Tourism Services, Health and Wellness Services and Cultural, Entertainment and Sporting Services.

The institutional and administrative arrangements for the design, implementation and monitoring of the Plan have been completed. A Regional Project Steering Committee has been established, comprising one representative from each Member State along with experts and specialists from regional organisations which deal with services. Each Member State has identified a ministry or an agency, as well as an individual, to function as national focal points with the latter managing and supervising the work on a day to day basis. Member States have also approved the creation of a National Coordinating Committee. This Committee will comprise representatives from all the service sector entities, public and private. In this regard, it should be noted that the National Coalitions are expected to play a leading role in these Committees.

Tonight, we are guests of the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries (TTCSI), one of several such bodies throughout our Region. The establishment of these coalitions was based on the perceived need for greater organisation within the sector, in order to respond to the emerging situation and opportunities. Consideration was given to services coalition models existing across the globe. The model eventually agreed upon was based on wide ranging consultations which involved representatives of the various professional associations, non-organised professionals, public sector officials, and non-governmental organisations providing services.

Barbados was the first Member State to launch its Coalition in 2002. Since then nine other Member States have launched their Coalitions. There is still some concern with regard to the less than optimum functioning of some of these bodies and also the lack of establishment in other Member States.

A study undertaken by the CARICOM Secretariat last year, highlighted important challenges faced by several of the coalitions and made recommendations for remediation. Some of the recommendations included: provision of technical resources to facilitate resource mobilisation, provision of core staff by governments, and the integration of the coalitions into the services work programme of governments.

The Trinidad and Tobago Coalition was cited as perhaps the strongest. I wish to congratulate the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition for the excellent work that it has been doing.

Our Coalitions may be resource-starved and face many daunting challenges, but, given the nature of the services sector, numerous opportunities for growth still exist.

One such area of opportunity is the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). All barriers to trade in services have been removed in the CSME. I call on the Coalitions present here this evening to seize the vast opportunities which exist in the services sector of the CSME. Explore the markets in the north – Belize, Haiti and Jamaica. Explore the markets in the south – Barbados, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Explore the markets of the Eastern Caribbean.

Forge greater linkages with other umbrella bodies such as the Chambers of Commerce and the Hotel and Tourism Associations where there is yet no linkage. More importantly, work more closely with the ministries and agencies that are responsible for services – education, transportation, health, commerce, communications. Seek out the assistance and the resources of all the regional organisations tasked with developing the CSME.

Another important area of opportunity is the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the Caribbean and the European Union. The current Caribbean Network of Services Coalitions is a vehicle through which synergies and the competitive and comparative advantages can be maximised. I urge you to work together to exploit the market opportunities in Europe.

There is yet another emerging area of opportunity in the Canadian market. The Community is currently negotiating a Trade and Development Agreement with Canada. All of us are of the view that services offer the best returns. Identify your self-interests in these negotiations so that the final agreement is to your advantage. Collaborate with your various counterparts in the public sector. Collaborate with your counterparts in other coalitions in the CSME. Meet the Diaspora in Canada. Plan and strategise with them on ways in which to increase our share of wealth which this agreement can offer.

The services Sector is too dynamic and too vast for either the private sector or the public sector alone to harness its full potential. Both sets of players must work together if we are to realise the full potential of this sector.

Ladies and Gentlemen, competition within and among modes of supply for services, is more acute today than previously. The consumer is sovereign and thanks to technology, communicates more widely and extensively with other consumers. Commendations and complaints cover the globe in a matter of seconds. No service is impervious to reviews, as today there are more than 350 million websites offering reviews on the internet, many of which are genuine. Some of these are genuine while others are spurious where competitors post information discrediting each other.

What I wish to highlight here is that consumers are more mobile and investigative today than ever. Each month, thousands of foreign consumers visit Trinidad and Tobago. An even larger number consume services here in Trinidad and Tobago via the internet. When there is an excellent delivery of a service to a consumer, word is sent to millions of other consumers. Today, there are many business failures. Many of these could have been avoided if the suppliers had paid more attention to service excellence.

I therefore congratulate the Awardees on winning the TTCSI Excellence in Services Awards. I also congratulate the Trinidad and Tobago Services Coalition for initiating these awards and encourage other coalitions to follow suit. This initiative can only bear positive results and I expect that in the coming years the award would be by sector.

Much has changed since 1995, the year when one hundred and sixteen members (116) of the World Trade Organisation agreed to recognise trade in services through the movement of the natural person. You have access to the world markets. This world is your world.

The CARICOM Secretariat pledges its full support for the Services Coalitions and will give whatever assistance it can to make you more effective and successful.

Let us make a difference. Let us give excellent service. Let us take our Services Sector to new frontiers, remembering the words of the leader of one of the world’s leading service economies: “the race for excellence has no finish line.”

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org
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