Decades of underutilized trade potential between neighboring Caribbean neighbors Saint Lucia and the French overseas territory of Martinique could soon be unlocked, according to France’s top envoy to the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados, Ambassador Marie-Noëlle Duris.
Located just 37 kilometers apart, the two island jurisdictions share deep geographic and cultural common ground that makes expanded cross-border commerce a natural fit, Duris explained in an exclusive interview with local outlet St Lucia Times. Currently, bilateral trade volumes between the two remain disproportionately small: 2024 data from French diplomatic officials shows that less than 3% of total exports from Martinique and neighboring French Caribbean territory Guadeloupe flow to Saint Lucia, while Saint Lucia accounts for less than 1% of those two territories’ total imports. But ongoing diplomatic and trade negotiations are working to change that, with negotiators currently targeting 15 locally produced goods for streamlined import-export rules. While Duris did not share the full product list during the interview, she confirmed key categories include dairy goods and luxury beauty items such as perfumes.
Duris emphasized that expanded trade would deliver mutual economic benefits to both sides. Martinique’s nearly 400,000 residents represent a large, accessible consumer market for Saint Lucian producers, while Martinique’s exporters gain a new nearby market for their own local goods, she noted.
The current push to deepen trade ties builds on more than a decade of regional trade development initiatives. As early as 2017, a trade mission organized by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to Saint Lucia, Martinique and Dominica first mapped out structural barriers to cross-border commerce, identifying gaps in transportation infrastructure, logistics networks, production capacity, product certification protocols, phytosanitary inspection systems and digital communication infrastructure. In 2018, the EU-backed Trade Enhancement for the Eastern Caribbean programme launched to boost trade and investment between Martinique and OECS member states including Saint Lucia, but the initiative uncovered additional hurdles, including fragmented business coordination across islands and low levels of export readiness among small and medium-sized producers on both sides.
Earlier this year, Martinique and Guadeloupe led a high-profile export mission to Saint Lucia, bringing 18 local companies to explore partnership and sales opportunities on the island. Even after years of preparatory work, barriers remain: Duris noted that strict European Union product and safety standards currently create procedural hurdles for non-EU producers seeking to export to Martinique, a French territory bound by EU trade regulation.
Yet the ambassador struck an optimistic tone about progress, saying that multiple stakeholder groups from both sides are collaborating to address these regulatory and structural challenges. “Nothing is insurmountable,” Duris said. “It is thanks to the will to move forward together and to common work that it will be possible to find solutions.” She added that she expects negotiators to reach actionable agreements to streamline trade for at least a handful of products in the near term, with plans to expand the list of eligible goods as initial cooperation proves successful. Former French Ambassador Francis Étienne echoed this outlook during the 2024 export mission, noting that “the potential for improvement is infinite…Anything we can do to support business is necessary but, more importantly, essential.”