Former trade minister Ken Valley's passing on May 6 came just about two months before the first Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) in Venezuela on July 5. Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are hoping that this new regional body, Celac, would advance greater commercial, political and cultural ties among the region's member states. From a commercial and cultural standpoint, Valley, who was trade minister in the Patrick Manning administration, did his part in solidifying ties between T&T and Latin America. Valley, during his tenure from December 2001 to November 2007, was responsible for building a platform that gave rise to trade and investment agreements with Costa Rica and Mexico and the deepening of other commercial ties with other Latin countries. In November, 2005, Valley and Manuel Gonzalez Sanz, his Costa Rican counterpart, signed a comprehensive bilateral free trade deal under which will eventually eliminate tariffs on all goods traded between the two nations. The deal removed tariffs on 90 per cent on goods traded between the two nations immediately, while tariffs on all remaining goods were set to be removed over four years. "This agreement with Costa Rica is a pioneering effort providing the opportunity for us to develop access, investment, and dispute settlement among others," Valley said at the time.
The deal also aimed to provide Costa Rica with access to the Caribbean Community (Caricom). "We export more to the Caribbean than all of South America and look forward to T&T influencing other countries to get on board," Gonzalez Sanz said in 2005. Valley's company, Caribbean Latin America Business Office, which he formed after leaving public office, sought to assist companies from the Caribbean and Latin Americas to break into each other's markets. He also produced the bi-lingual magazine, PULSE, launched in November 2009, which highlighted business and economic opportunities in Latin America and profiled Latin American ambassadors and business people doing business with T&T. Valley, a visionary "He was a giant." That is how Paul Quesnel, a former president and current board member of the T&T Manufacturers Association (TTMA), described Valley. He said Valley had a vision of opening T&T's market to Latin America. "He saw that in the future, some of our major trading partners would be Spanish-speaking Latin American countries and this is what he worked towards," said Quesnel, a director at Kiss Baking Company Ltd.
Quesnel, in describing Valley as proactive, recalled that Valley had travelled with members of the TTMA on business missions to Central America and the Dominican Republic. "He was one of the prime persons who accompanied us in opening up free trade agreements with Costa Rica. He tried his best to listen to us when we voiced our concerns. He always got back to us in a timely manner. He was always supportive of the TTMA," Quesnel said. He spoke of the importance of continuously updating and ensuring free trade agreements are working well. "The joint councils from those countries we have free trade agreements with are supposed to meeting regularly, but I don't think they are happening as regularly as they should be," he said. Valley was adamant about T&T becoming a bi-lingual country with Spanish as the second language.
Quesnel praised the work Valley did in working to realise this goal. "Ken pushed to have Spanish as T&T's second language. He was responsible for putting up the street signs in Spanish that we have today. Even in the Ministry of Trade, now there are many people who can speak Spanish. Many of our companies in T&T are now sending their employees to Spanish classes."
Led T&T into globalisation
Anthony Aboud, a former TTMA president and present chairman of the Trade and Investment Convention (TIC), described Valley as a minister of trade who "facilitated business." "He was an exceptional minister of trade who listened to his constituents," he said. Aboud credited Valley with leading T&T into globalisation by demanding that local manufacturers become competitive to survive. He said Valley was at the forefront of leading T&T to negotiate free trade deals with Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. "The impact of these free trade deals would depend on the manufacturers themselves and how they handle it," Aboud said.
Aboud spoke of Valley's contribution to the growth of TIC, which be hosted for the 12th year when it's held from June 15 to 18 at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad hotel, Port-of-Spain. "I think I worked with Valley on TIC more than any other trade minister. He was always very accommodating. Even after he left office, he continued working with TIC. In fact, two to three weeks before his death, we had a long conversation on TIC."
Speaking at the launch of TIC at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad in February, Greig Laughlin, immediate past president of the TTMA, said: "While the regional market remains quite feasible, there are also great opportunities outside the region, including markets which are not saturated and countries with which trade agreements have already been forged. "Consideration of the Central American market as another alternative, must be researched due to the large market size and density and economic growth within recent years," he added. Laughlin said that Costa Rica has been a highly favourable market for this country's goods, being a top ten export destination for manufactured goods in 2008 and the only Central American country with which an agreement is in place. Fifteen Central and South American countries, including Colombia, Costa Rica, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela came into TIC under Valley's watch.
Association of Caribbean States
Luis Fernando Andrade Falla, secretary general of the ACS, in an e-mail to the Business Guardian, said that Valley "always had the initiative to link T&T with Latin America." "In spite of his illness, Valley maintained his momentum and vitality without losing sight of the relationship between T&T and Latin America," he said. He attributed such groundwork for the arrival of the Panama-based Copa Airlines to Valley's hard work and vision. Falla said Valley worked with the Latin American ambassadors accredited to T&T to promote PULSE Magazine, which, over the last 18 months highlighted many Latin American economies.
Venezuelan Embassy
Venezuelan ambassador Maria Marcano described Valley's relationship with Venezuela as a "close" one.
In an e-mail interview, Marcano said during his tenure as minister of trade, Valley signed a partial trade agreement with Venezuela. She said that Valley also promoted the steelpan as a viable industry to Latin Americans. The January/June 2010 edition of PULSE Magazine published an article on Venezuela's bicentennial anniversary.
Achievements
• Kenneth Cyril Valley was a former minister of trade and industry (MTI), minister in the Ministry of Finance and Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives (2001-2007).
• He had more than 30 years' senior management experience in finance, business and insurance.
Prior to his last ministerial tenure, he had served as the minister with responsibility for trade, industry and investments in the Government during the 1991-1995 administration.
In that capacity, Valley held oversight for the following initiatives, among others:
• The implementation of the State Enterprises Policy, which resulted in the reduction of the State's direct involvement in commercial enterprises, from 87 in 1992, to 50 at the end of 1995.
• Positioning of T&T as the gateway to South America and the business and financial capital of the Caribbean.
• The pursuit of market access agreements with larger markets around T&T, namely Colombia and Venezuela.
• The liberalisation of the economy through the removal of the Negative List and other quantitative restrictions on trade, and the reduction of tariffs-all with a view to making the T&T economy more competitive.
• The facilitation of investment growth in exports and industrial promotion through the forging of strategic trade alliances with major countries in Latin America, North America and Europe, and providing the appropriate financial legislative framework.
• In November, 2005, Valley, and Manuel Gonzalez Sanz, his Costa Rican counterpart, signed a comprehensive bilateral free trade deal under which will eventually eliminate tariffs on all goods traded between the two nations.
• In 2006, Valley signed bilateral investment treaty with Mexico.
• During the period 2001-2007, Valley led the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in vigorous pursuit of its mandate to diversify the local economy away from its dependence on oil and gas.
• During this period, the MTI's efforts were directed towards the growth of the non-energy manufacturing and services sectors. In pursuit of this broad objective, the focus of the ministry was on the following:
i. developing targeted industries
ii. expanding trading opportunities
iii. attracting investment for business growth and development; and
iv. creating an enabling environment that protects and promotes effective competition for trade, business and investment to grow and thrive.