CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

dynamic means of exporting services to the UK, and thus the areas in which fungibility of supply was most feasible.

Page 173 of 241 Based on a cross-regional assessment of CARIFORUM’s total services trade, it is evident that the DR is the region’s top performing services-based economy, dominating both the export and import categories. Jamaica also consistently ranked second overall, in both categories, whereas The Bahamas, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago rounded out the top five. While CARIFORUM has collectively managed to maintain a positive services sector growth trend and trade in In relation to the CF-UK bilateral services and investment framework and regulatory environment , while there are no major differences between the UK’s commitments under the CF EU EPA, and trade with the UK should be beneficial for CARIFORUM due to its less onerous services and investment market access provisions under the EPA. At the CARIFORUM level, the notable differences in the levels and speed of development among the States and the need for variable geometry, has resulted in the absence of seamless market access commitments, which is likely to result in a more complicated market access environment for potential UK services providers and investors, which may have a cooling effect on inward investment and services supply from the UK to CARIFORUM. At the same time, the UK operates a relatively more open regulatory environment than its OECD counterparts, in relation to its services and investment regimes, and both its comparative advantage in exports and greater reliance on imports via Mode 3, compared with many of its EU counterparts, makes it a strong bilateral partner from which to generate inward investment, as well as a relatively more attractive and competitive destination for Mode 3 investment, than the EU, and should be closely examined in relation to its potential to play a dual role in that regard. Indeed, similar conclusions may also be drawn with regard to trading with the UK via Mode 1 – digital trade, in which the CARIFORUM region also possesses some comparative strength, and thus offers some opportunities for alignment with UK trade trends as well as further avenues for the development of both export and import linkages.