MARCH 2014

In Focus TTMA

P1

Cluster meeting

P5 /

Upcoming Events

On Wednesday 26th March 2014 the TTMA held its first networking session in the Central area – at Gaston

Courts Conference Room, Chaguanas. A good complement of manufacturers was present at the meeting from a

variety of sub sectors, and they were given an opportunity to ventilate some of their most pressing issues in the

context of their Business Development.

Present from the TTMA Directorship were the President of the TTMA, Mr. Nicholas Lok Jack, TTMA Directors Mr.

Craig La Croix and Mr. Robin Phillips, and TTMA CEO, Mr. Ramesh Ramdeen, all who were on hand to respond

to the concerns raised by the members present and also enlighten them on some of the work that is being done

to improve the way in which business is conducted nationally. In addition, while the majority of members were

from the Central Area and environs, there were some from other parts of Trinidad, as the entire membership

was invited to participate in this event.

At the end of the informal discussion between the TTMA Executive and members, there was a lengthy network-

ing cocktail reception, which was kindly sponsored by Optometrists Today, one of our members that operates

one of its branches in Chaguanas. Blue Waters Spirits Division also contributed in kind to the cocktail reception,

and TTMA is very grateful to them both for their kind support. The TTMA intends to continue this tradition that

has begun, by holding additional Cluster Meetings in various locations across the country.

TTMA hosts 1st Cluster Meeting

>> CONT. PAGE TWO

P2 / P3

Trade Minister visits

John Dickinson W.I.

Company Ltd

P4 /

Update on CARICOM/

Canada negotiations

>> PAGE 2 T T M A I n F o c u s

On Friday, 28 March, 2014, the Minister of Trade, Indus-

try and Investment, Senator the Honourable Vasant

Bharath together with TTMA CEO Ramesh Ramdeen and

CEO of exporTT Mr. Christopher Lewis toured the factory

of John Dickinson W.I. Company Limited.

Accompanying these delegates were officials from the

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment, inclusive of Ms.

Sandra Indar, Permanent Secretary, Mr. Norris Herbert,

recently appointed Deputy Permanent Secretary and Ms.

Jacqui Charles, who was also recently appointed Deputy

Permanent Secretary.

Mr. George Haloute, Executive Director of John Dickinson

welcomed all invitees to their factory, which will be cele-

brating 50 years of existence in 2015. He gave a short

chronological history of the company, highlighting that the

company currently employs more than 350 workers and

exports throughout the region, inclusive of the Caribbean

as well as Latin America. The company also exports

products to Cuba and is presently looking at markets in

North America and possibly Europe.

Mr. Ramdeen brought greetings on behalf of the TTMA

and mentioned the importance of companies such as John

Dickerson to the economy since it is a significant employer

and earns valuable foreign exchange.

Further, he noted even though the company is operating in

a sunset industry, it is finding innovative and creative

ways to sustain itself in a very competitive climat, and this

should be commended. He advised that government

should partner with and continue to create mechanisms to

ensure the sustainability and growth of manufacturing

companies such as John Dickinson.

Minister Bharath congratulated John Dickin-

son on their achievements to date. He indi-

cated that the Ministry’s drive was to create

an enabling environment in which manufac-

turers could thrive and prosper. Minister

Bharath further mentioned that his Ministry

is working assiduously to improve conditions

for engaging business in Trinidad and To-

bago and in this light; some of the objec-

tives are to decrease the time taken to start

a business, from 43 days to 3 days.

In fact it was mentioned that manufacturers now wishing to

transfer or acquire property can use a bill from WASA in

lieu of a WASA clearance certificate, which was proving

Minister of Trade visits John Dickinson

>> CONT. PAGE THREE

Senator the Honourable Vasant Bharath shakes hands with Mr. Christian Haloute, Director of John Dickinson WI Company Limite, while Mr. Dominic Haloute and Mr. Deorge Haloute, Directors of John Dickinson WI Company Limited, and Mr. Norris Herbert, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the MTII look on

Senator the Honourable Vasant Bharath delivers his speech

>> PAGE 3 T T M A I n F o c u s

Minister of Trade visits John Dickinson

Mr. Ramesh Ramdeen, CEO of the TTMA, addresses the audience prior to the tour

to be problematic as 7000 applicants are presently await-

ing clearance from WASA. Thus, via the operations of en-

tities such as exporTT, trade opportunities and facilitation

measures will be enhanced.

He also mentioned that via the work of InvesTT - which is

the one-stop shop for investors (both local and foreign) T&T

will be seeking to attract investment opportunities to the

country and with seven new industrial parks to be estab-

lished in the country.

Senator the Honourable Vasant Bharath and Mr. George Haloute look on as tissue paper is being manufactured at one of John Dickinson's factories in Diamond Vale, Diego Martin.

Mr. George Haloute, Director of John Dickinson WI Company Limited

Following the formal proceedings, the delegation was

given a tour of the premises and viewed the production

lines for exercise books, tissue paper, binders and other

products of the company.

TTMA congratulates Mr. Haloute and his very hard work-

ing team in accomplishing all that the company has

achieved thus far, especially in light of the fact that the

company will be celebrating 50 years in the business next

year.

>> CONT. FROM PAGE TWO

Trade, Industry and Investment.

CARICOM held intra-regional consultations

on Monday, February 24 2014, to discuss

Canada’s concerns on the agreement. The

results of the consultations would be utilised

during the upcoming Market Access discus-

sions between CARICOM and Canada.

The sixth round of negotiations for the

Agreement was held in Jamaica from Mon-

day, March 3 2014 to Saturday, March 8

2014. Among the topics discussed were En-

vironment, Investment, and Labour. How-

ever, Market Access was not discussed.

It should also be noted that in the absence of

the CARIBCAN agreement, trade with the Cana-

dian market will be governed by the General

Preferential Tariff (GPT) regime, which allows

developed countries to offer non- reciprocal tariff

preferences to imports from developing coun-

tries.

This regime is set to expire on 31st December,

2014. Furthermore, the effects of the removal of

the CARIBCAN vary from product to product.

For information on a specific good, you may

contact the TTMA via telephone at 675-8862

ext. 248 or 225, or via e-mail at

tradedesk@ttma.com or trade@ttma.com.

>> PAGE 4 T T M A I n F o c u s

The member states of CARICOM continue to

work towards the completion of the CARICOM-

Canada Trade and Development Agreement.

Canada has indicated a deadline date of June

2014 for the completion of the negotiations.

There have been some developments in the ne-

gotiations since January 1st, 2014.

Some of these developments are identified be-

low:

A special meeting of the Council on Trade

and Economic Development (COTED) was

convened on Monday, February 10 2014.

The meeting was attended by the various

Ministers of Trade within the region. CARI-

COM’s strategic path with regards to the pro-

gress of the negotiations, as well as the pos-

sible alternatives to the Agreement, was dis-

cussed.

Canada had expressed its concern with the

level of preferences that CARICOM had

placed on the negotiating table. Primarily,

Canada’s concern is that CARICOM’s exclu-

sion list (i.e. those goods which will be ex-

cluded from tariff liberalisation) contains

goods which it (i.e. Canada) has an interest

in exporting to CARICOM. However, CARI-

COM’s position was adopted in the interest

of its stakeholders. Two of the reasons for

CARICOM’s position are:

- To ensure that sensitive manufacturing

sectors are not affected by Canadian

imports.

- To maintain the revenue obtained from

duties.

Trinidad and Tobago, in response to Can-

ada’s concern, hypothesised on ways to in-

crease the level of preferences to Canada.

These hypotheses were sent to those mem-

bers of the TTMA which would be affected.

The invaluable feedback from the members

was then communicated to the Ministry of

Update on CARICOM-Canada Trade Agreement Negotiations

Meet Shabanna Ali-Laltoo—Team Lead, Finance &

Administration Mrs. Shabanna Ali-Laltoo is the Team Lead-Finance and Administration Unit at the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association. She has been employed at the TTMA for 6 years, and in that time, gained experience in the areas of Finance, Ad-ministration, IT and Human Resource Management. Shabanna was recently pro-moted to the position of Team Lead-Finance and Administration, having demon-strated commitment to excellence in her work. Mrs. Ali-Laltoo manages the TTMA’s accounts, including membership subscriptions, and sits on the Association’s Finance & Administration Committee. Shabanna is a member of ACCA and is a Certified Accounting Technician.

| Trinidad & Tobago Manufacturers' Association | 42 Tenth Avenue, Barataria | Phone 868-675-8862 | Fax 868-675-9000 | Email info@ttma.com | URL: www.ttma.com | Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TTMAorg?ref=hl

TTMA Staff Profile

TTMA Welcomes its Newest Members

ASA Enterprises Limited #14 Ramkissoon Trace

Mc Bean Couva Tel: 868-679-7651 Fax: 868-679-7141 Email: ohsnacks@tstt.net.tt Manufacturer of Healthy Snack Foods

Gulf Insurance Limited 1Gray Street St. Clair Port of Spain Tel: 868-622-5878 Fax: 868-628-2167 Email:info@gulfinsuranceltd.com Insurance Services Provider

Flame Industries Limited 40-44 Sutton Street San Fernando Tel #: 657-5194 Fax #: 657-9832 Email: althea@ssltt.com Manufacturer of Protective Garments

Upcoming events

The 58th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the

Trinidad & Tobago Manufacturers’ Association takes

place on:

Tuesday 6th May, 2014

Regency Ballroom V, Hyatt Regency Trinidad

1 Wrightson Road, Port of Spain

at 8:00 a.m.

Members are asked to confirm their attendance to the

Annual General Meeting by Friday 2nd May, 2014.

For more information please call the TTMA Secretariat at

675-8862 or email: info@ttma.com

ProNet Training Workshop 28-30 April 2014

Normandie Hotel, St. Ann’s, Port of Spain

TTMA will be hosting a three day workshop on Resources Management and Quality Management, teach-ing you all that you need to know about principles of qual-ity management, procurement strategies and many other interesting topics.

Cost: TT$350 VAT inclusive for the 3-day session. If you are interested in participating in this seminar, please call the TTMA Secretariat at 675-8862 or email: info@ttma.com.

| Trinidad & Tobago Manufacturers' Association | 42 Tenth Avenue, Barataria | Phone 868-675-8862 | Fax 868-675-9000 | Email info@ttma.com | URL: www.ttma.com | Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TTMAorg?ref=hl