CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

Across the top five traded sectors, the countries driving the bilateral trade in services appeared to be more or less consistent, with the same six countries dominating the rankings in terms of total bilateral trade with the UK. These included The Bahamas, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. In the case of travel services – the top bilateral export, the UK’s main partners were Jamaica, followed by the DR and Barbados. In the case of Other Business services , The Bahamas led Barbados and Guyana as the most active UK trading partner, while for Transport services , major tourist hub Jamaica was third behind Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. Barbados led in relation to the bilateral trade with the UK in Insurance and Pension services , followed by The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago, while on Financial Services the leaders were The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, followed by the DR. Based on the available data, therefore, Barbados was the most active trading partner for the UK across the five major bilateral services activities traded. This was followed by Jamaica by virtue of its dominance of the transport and travel services sectors, and then The Bahamas, which was a significant market for the UK in the Other Business Services and Insurance and Pension services categories. Consequently, the assessment of the UK’s main trade in services relationships within the CARIFORUM region not only shows that the rate of participation by CARIFORUM States in the sectors analysed was limited, but that only three countries (Barbados, The Bahamas and the DR) recorded active bilateral trade across the majority of sectors, indicating that there was not full uptake of the market access opportunities afforded by the UK to the countries within the region. In addition, there were only three sectors in which all CARIFORUM States registered bilateral trading activity with the UK. These included Travel services, Telecommunications, Computer and Information services and Other Business services. While, on the other hand, there was minimal bilateral trading activity between the two sides in relation to the Construction, Manufacturing, and Maintenance and Repair services sectors. This suggests that the region’s services activities are

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