The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Chamber of Commerce’s top trade executive is expressing concern about “the level of misinformation” being circulated about The Bahamas’ bid for full WTO membership.

Darron Pickstock, who heads the Chamber’s trade and investment division, told Tribune Business it was vital that Bahamians possessed correct information on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the implications of full membership so that accurate, non-emotional decisions are made.

He spoke out amid growing unease among some Bahamians over the government’s plans to finally complete this nation’s 18-year accession attempt, with many expressing fears - circulated widely on social media - that it will lead to a mass influx of foreign workers pushing locals out of jobs.

Other concerns articulated publicly are that WTO imposes a “privatisation policy” which will force the government to sell-off all government services, and Bahamians will thus be unable to depend on government jobs, but Mr Pickstock branded such claims as “irresponsible” due to their inaccuracy.

“That is one thing that I have been noticing; the misinformation,” Mr Pickstock told Tribune Business. “There’s so much misinformation out there. It’s irresponsible for people to do this; imparting information that is simply not true.

“I do realise there is a lot of misinformation out there about Wal-Mart coming in here and all those things. I’m not saying this to say I support WTO, but it’s always important - whatever topics are discussed - that you have the proper information to make prudent decisions, otherwise you are making decisions on misinformation and emotion, which is never good.”

“You are trying to do things in the best interests of your country, and with that comes great responsibility to ensure that when you advocate for or against you do so based on proper information.”

The WTO is global trade’s rules setting and enforcement body. It is designed to create a regime for the free movement of goods and services across borders, but this does not include free movement of labour - an issue that only arises with the Caribbean Single Market & Economy (CSME), of which The Bahamas is not part.

While WTO membership may open up some Bahamian industries to foreign companies, there is no enforced “privatisation policy”. Joining the global trade body comes with both challenges and opportunities, and The Bahamas ability to obtain the best accession terms will depend heavily on the skills of the Government’s negotiating team.

Among the genuine concerns are that WTO has not worked well for small economies such as The Bahamas, and that the prime beneficiaries are major industrialised countries and multinational companies that want to open up and exploit such markets for their own benefit.

There is also a perception that WTO’s much-touted dispute resolution mechanisms are ineffective, especially when small economies are pitted against larger counterparts. Many local observers also believe The Bahamas has little to gain because it has minimal physical goods exports with which to trade.

However, others argue that The Bahamas cannot afford to be isolationist given its status as an international business centre. Besides opening up overseas markets for Bahamian exporters, they believe full WTO membership will clarify “the rules of the game” for foreign and domestic investors, helping to attract new industries to this nation.

Acceding to the WTO will also, in the eyes of some, force The Bahamas to enact reforms to modernise its economy - something it has traditionally been reluctant to do. The Standards Bureau has already been created to verify the quality of local products, and other trade-related changes in the pipeline include a competition law and regulator; intellectual property legislation; and sanitary and phytosanitary regulations.

However, activist groups are now joining forces in their efforts to oppose the Minnis administration’s bid to close the world’s longest-running WTO accession. These include Bahamians Agitating for a Referendum on Free Trade and the Bahamas Enough Movement, which played a key role in organising the pre-Christmas protest march to Rawson Square.

Tribune Business has seen social media talk about staging a similar march on January 10, Majority Rule Day, under the moniker Say No to WTO, although it is unclear yet whether this will actually proceed.

Mr Pickstock, meanwhile, urged Bahamians to obtain factual information from the WTO’s website and other sources. “At this point I am concerned about the level of misinformation because it can give you a negative result,” he told Tribune Business.

“It’s important that the Government and the private sector continue to put information out there that’s correct. The Government, in support of WTO, it’s important for them to get out there and hold the public sessions and consultation so they can inform people on what they’re doing and give them the right information.

“This is an important topic, important issue, and I’m confident people will seek out the right information for themselves.” Mr Pickstock said the private sector was unlikely to be influenced by any WTO-related misinformation because it was already conducting its own research.

Zhivargo Laing, the Government’s leading WTO negotiator, said he, too, was aware of inaccurate and misleading information being circulated among Bahamians via social media.

He called on both the Government and Bahamian public to intensify their WTO-related education efforts, adding that he welcomed increased dialogue and debate among Bahamians on the issue.

The former minister, who held responsibility for trade matters during both Ingraham administrations, urged Bahamians to ask WTO accession critics for their information sources whenever claims were made about the negative impact of full membership.

He acknowledged, though, that the Government has “work to do” and must “keep pressing the case” for this nation becoming a full WTO member, while agreeing that Bahamians should always hold it accountable for a policy decision of such magnitude.

“I welcome the participation of more and more citizens of our country in this dialogue and debate. I really do,” Mr Laing told Tribune Business. “I do, however, note as you do that there is out there a great deal of either inaccurate information or misleading information about what WTO does or does not represent.

“That means there has to be a continual effort on the part of government to educate, make freely available and share the information it has with the public. It requires the public to do a better job of fact-checking what they’re told.

“I recently spoke to a labour representative who said a leader had told him there’s free movement of labour with WTO. I said: ‘Ask the labour leader to give you the language and text in the WTO agreement that makes them believe that’. You can simply ask them to reference where they are getting that information from.”

Mr Laing also challenged claims that the WTO agreements cover 20,000-30,000 pages, saying the organisation’s own website details the 60-plus agreements as only covering 500 pages.

“The Government has to do its part in educating the public, but the public has to help itself with its own checks,” he added. “The dialogue makes sense. People shouldn’t let the Government simply do things. They should ask, inquire and even if they disagree should debate.”

Pointing to a recent Public Domain opinion poll, in which respondents were evenly split between being for, against or requiring more information to come to a decision on WTO, Mr Laing said more were now in favour than would have been the case in 2001.

“The Government has to keep pressing the case,” he added.