Bernal... was the principal negotiator for the Forum of Caribbean States (CARIFORUM) during the negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union which were concluded in December, 2007 after four years of tortuous negotiations

Ambassador Dr Richard Bernal is on his way back to Washington, this time to take up an executive position at the headquarters of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Bernal, who served as Jamaica's ambassador to Washington for ten years, resigned from the post of director general of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), from which he was lead negotiator for the Economic Partnership Agreement, the new trade package linking Europe and its present and former colonies in the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. The resignation becomes effective June 30, 2008.

A professional economist with over 35 years of experience, Bernal joined the CRNM on September 1, 2001 succeeding Sir Sridath Ramphal. For almost seven years, he provided overall direction to the CRNM, supervising a staff of technical experts and trade specialists operating from Kingston, Jamaica; Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St Lucia; Brussels, Belgium and Geneva, Switzerland.

He was the principal negotiator for the Forum of Caribbean States (CARIFORUM) during the negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union which were concluded in December, 2007 after four years of tortuous negotiations.

Dr Bernal, known to colleagues and associates as an affable and skilful negotiator, was head of the CRNM technical teams advising the Caricom delegations at the WTO ministerial meetings in Cancun and Hong Kong and FTAA ministerial fora. He was the point person of external trade for Caricom/CARIFORUM in numerous discussions with prime ministers, presidents, ministers and heads of the WTO, World Bank, and the IDB which has now grabbed his services.

Through his advocacy and publications, he advanced policy on special and differential treatment and small developing economies in trade agreements. He was the first chair of the Working Group on Small Economies of the FTAA and Caricom's lead negotiator in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations.

Previously, he was chief executive officer of a commercial bank and served in various capacities in the Bank of Jamaica, the Planning Agency/Institute and the Ministry of Finance. He taught international economics and development economics at the University of the West Indies for seven years.

Ambassador Bernal holds the degrees of BSc, MA, PhD (Economics) and MIPP (International Public Policy).
"For 10 years, Dr Richard Leighton Bernal, a man born, it would seem, to the service of his country, worked the corridors of world power in Washington and held the Jamaican flag high as ambassador to the United States," said an Observer writer of Bernal. "He walked among the high-powered diplomats as if he were from the biggest and richest country on earth and earned a respect well beyond the size and population of this small island. In the global scheme of things, trade-offs were the order of the day and those who could not play the game would be left behind. Bernal brought Jamaican intellect and energy, articulation, charm and a sunny personality that kept Jamaica solidly in the mix. If it was egg, Jamaica was in the red.

"It would earn him the gratitude of a nation and nothing less than the country's fourth highest honour, the Order of Jamaica (OJ)," the writer noted.

Serving from 1991 to 2001, Bernal stayed longer in the job than any other Jamaican.

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