The OAS and Trade

The Trade Section of the OAS Department of Trade, Tourism and Competitiveness (DTTC) supports the efforts of member states to promote economic diversification and integration, trade liberalization, and market access that can lead, through expanded market and investment opportunities, to enhanced economic development, job creation, and poverty reduction.

To that end, the Trade Section:

1. Provides support to economic and trade integration processes in the Americas.

2. Provides technical assistance on trade issues to member states that so request, particularly to the smaller economies.

3. Provides assistance in strengthening the human resources and institutional capabilities of the member states, in particular of the smaller economies, so that they may take full advantage of trade agreements and thus contribute to economic growth, job generation, and poverty reduction.

4. Supports member states in the design, programming, and execution of trade-related horizontal cooperation projects.

5. Supports activities that promote dialogue with civil society on trade and economic integration, including public outreach with the private sector, journalists, and academic institutions.

6. Conducts analytical work and prepares policy studies on trade and other issues related to trade and integration agreements in the Hemisphere.

Cooperates with regional integration secretariats such as the CARICOM Secretariat, the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) Secretariat, the Andean Community Secretariat and the Central Amercian Economic Integration Secretariat (SIECA), as well as with other international organizations including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB, the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank, and the U.N. Conferences on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Relevance of the OAS in the Area of Trade and Integration

Numerous trade agreements have been negotiated and signed by governments of countries in the Americas. Such agreements should serve to advance the process of trade liberalization, provide an impulse to job creation and promote economic development and prosperity in the hemisphere. To be effective these agreements must be implemented and parallel efforts need to be made to take advantage of enhanced market access and investment opportunities. However, Governments often face both human and financial resource constraints that may limit the extent to which they can effectively face these challenges in the numerous and complex areas that are now encompassed within these legally binding frameworks.

The OAS General Secretariat plays a vital role in this regard, assisting Member governments with the implementation of trade agreements and with the adjustment to more open economies, thus helping to promote competitiveness and greater integration into hemispheric and world markets.

As an institution, the OAS is uniquely situated to carry out this role. First, the organization brings together the countries in the Hemisphere. Second, because of the broad agenda covered by the work of the organization under the umbrella of the Summit of the Americas Plan of Action, the OAS provides a forum in which trade can be linked with other areas of vital concern and ongoing work, such as labor, the environment, security, etc. The OAS can provide a link to these parallel processes through its General Assembly and the Summit mandates.