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Caribbean stood tall in Washington:
by Linda Hutchinson-Jafar
The Caribbean may have walked away empty-handed from their recent sojourn to Washington, but to my mind, they returned home with something far more valuable - and maybe not even recognizable by many of them.
I honestly don't think any of the Caribbean leaders went to Washington with pre-conceived notions of expecting anything immediately to be handed to them - and I'm sure a lot more maybe are not banking on getting an iota from the United States, given their pre-occupation, fighting their battles in the Middle-East and their war of words with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.
What was indeed important about the visit to Washington, in my view, was letting the US administration know that the Caribbean is not relaxing on its laurels, but has been bravely forging ahead, with their pride held high against the odds as their countries continue to struggle economically, socially with high crime rates, unemployment and major health issues.
They face numerous challenges as small, vulnerable states adapting to globalisation and a world free from trade barriers and protectionist policies, and facing marginalisation by free trade agreements between powerful nations which do not include them.
Yet, the Caribbean did not go with their hats in hand to beg; they did not cower and use nice words to describe the problems they were going through, and they did not shy away from criticising the U.S on a number of fronts.
I think the Trinidadian prime minister Patrick Manning nailed it on the head when he said Caribbean leaders did not go to the meeting with U.S President George W. Bush to make any demands.
Instead, they wanted to share certain issues and concerns the Caribbean was facing.
"In outlining the case, what we sought to do was not to specifically ask for ABC and D, but to outline the situation, outline the position of the Caribbean countries and to ask the US that, in those circumstances, “ what are you prepared to do, " according to Manning.
Barbadian prime minister Owen Arthur also struck a resonant point when he delivered one of his best speeches yet, informing Washington that, "we have not come to Washington to hanker after a nostalgic past. And we have come here not as people without hope."
The Caribbean sought an audience with the U.S as it was the region's closest developed country neighbour, their major trading partner and the home of the largest number of migrants from the Caribbean.
Among issues that were put on the platter for the U.S to consider were expanding the range of goods and services in the CBI; the issue of security in the Caribbean regarding the transshipment of illegal drugs and all the inherent problems with that in fueling crime; the issue of deportation and health issues such as HIV/AIDS.
It's now left to the U.S to decide whether it will continue to ignore our concerns or lend a hand in dealing with some of our problems which we all know would make a great, big difference to our countries.
One of the issues raised at the meeting by President Bush was the close relations between the Caribbean countries and Cuba.
The President was disturbed by this.
But it was made clear by several Caribbean leaders, including Guyana's President Bharat Jagdeo and St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, that Cuba, along with Venezuela and even China, were the only countries helping the Caribbean.
Should we ignore their help which we so desperately need given our small economies and reducing GDPs?
The fact is that seven of the top ten countries across the globe with the highest ratio of debt to GDP are to be found in the Caribbean. Only two are beneficiaries of the HIPC initiative.
This might have been news to the U.S., given their lack of attention to us.
President Bush was also told that the Caribbean respected the U.S position to have partners, and they hoped the U.S would respect the Caribbean to have their own partners as well.
Caribbean leaders also had an opportunity to meet with members of the civil society, including the Diaspora, the private sector, the academic community and others.
At one of the Diaspora meetings, one US-based Barbadian woman was lamenting the need for more Caribbean nationals living in the U.S. to make the sacrifices and show up at meetings on the weekends to see how they can help the folks back home.
She threw the audience into a fit of laughter when she said people only turn up when they know food was going to be served!
But seriously, the Caribbean Diaspora should be tapped into as external partners for our countries and hope the leaders would consider their potential contribution to their home countries.
I know too well how important their remittances are assisting families back in the Caribbean - and in the case of the Jamaican Diaspora, they have professionally organised themselves to aid the run-down hospitals and schools in the mother country.
There were scores of US-based Caribbean nationals at the Diaspora meetings who wanted to cement links and help the Caribbean in any which way they could.
There was one guy, John McKenzie, the President of the Caribbean-American Chamber of Commerce, who wanted to link US-Caribbean professionals with Caribbean-based professionals and have some synergies going.
And while the U.S did not seem to have any senior officials at the various plenary and Diaspora sessions, the World Bank, the IMF, the IDB and the OAS were greatly represented - and once again, the Caribbean needs to tap into those resources for help - and their officials have all publicly pledged to give assistance to the Caribbean in several spheres.
As an aside, special thanks to the OAS, and in particular, the Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin for inviting a large contingent of journalists from all 14 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries to take part in a one-day seminar and facilitating our presence in Washington for the Caribbean leaders' meeting.
We were indeed happy that more efforts are being made for a strong Caribbean presence in the OAS, despite the overwhelming Latin American bias of the hemispheric body.
Linda Hutchinson-Jafar can be reached at hutchlin@gmail.com
Perspectives on Terrorism
By Gwynne Dyer
It's safe to say that the driver of the car packed with explosives that was found in central London early Friday morning was not a very impressive terrorist. Driving erratically down Haymarket at 1.30 in the morning in a silver Mercedes, crashing it into a garbage bin, getting out and running away -- it all suggests that he didn't pay proper attention back in terrorist school.
It's also safe to say that this incident will be taken more
seriously in the United States than it is in Britain itself or anywhere else in Europe. Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued the obligatory statement that Britain faces "a serious and continuous threat" and that the public "need to be alert" at all times, but there were none of the attempts to use it as justification for Britain's supporting role in the US invasion of Iraq that would have been automatic when Tony Blair was running the show.
Blair has gone off to bring peace to the Middle East as the special envoy of the Quartet (the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia). It would be a hopeless task at the moment even for someone respected by all sides, which is why the job had been left empty since the last "special envoy," former World Bank president James Wolfensohn, resigned in frustration in early 2006 -- and Wolfensohn (who hadn't even invaded Iraq) genuinely did have the respect of all sides.
But Blair didn't want to fade away gracefully. He wanted the job, and his pal George Bush twisted arms until the other members of the Quartet gave in, reasoning that he couldn't do that much harm when there's no hope anyway. After all, if a Borgia can become pope, why can't Tony Blair be a peace envoy? The British Foreign Office is said to be in an "institutional sulk" and the Russians nearly vetoed the appointment, but it doesn't really matter much. Neither does the car-bomb that was abandoned in central London.
If the silver Merc that was left in Haymarket had actually exploded and killed some people it would not be an appropriate time to say this, but an occasional terrorist attack is one of the costs of doing business in the modern world. You just have to bring a sense of proportion to the problem, and in general people in Europe do.
Most major European countries had already been through some sort of terrorist crisis well before the current fashion for "Islamist" terrorism:the IRA in Britain, the OAS in France, ETA in Spain, the Baader-Meinhof Gang in Germany, the Brigate Rossi and their neo-fascist counterparts in Italy. Most European cities have also been heavily bombed in a real war within living memory, which definitely puts terrorist attacks into a less impressive category. So most Europeans, while they dislike terrorist attacks, do not obsess about them: they know that they are likelier to winthe lottery than to be hurt by terrorists.
Russians are pretty cool about the occasional terrorist attacks linked to the war in Chechnya, and Indians are positively heroic in their refusal (most of the time) to be panicked by terrorist attacks that have taken more lives there than all the attacks in the West since terrorist techniques first became widespread in the 1960s. In almost all of thes countries, despite the efforts of some governments to convince the population that terrorism is an existential threat of enormous size, the vast majority of the people don't believe it.
Whereas in the United States, most people do believe it. A majority of Americans have finally figured out that the invasion of Iraq really had nothing to do with fighting terrorism, but they certainly havenot understood that terrorism itself is only a minor threat.
Inexperience is one reason: American cities have never been bombed in war, so Americans have no standard of comparison that would shrink terrorism to its true importance in the scale of threats that face any modern society. But the other is relentless official propaganda: the Bush administration has built its whole brand around the "war on terror" since 2001, so the threat must continue to be seen as huge and universal.
Ridiculous though it sounds to outsiders, Americans are regularly told that their survival as a free society depends on beating the"terrorists." They should treat those who say such things as fools or deliberate liars not worthy of a moment's attention, but they don't. Which is why the manipulators of public opinion in the White House and the US media will give bigger play to the London bombing-that-wasn't than Britain's own government and media will.
Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.
TIME TO WALK THE TALK
The challenges facing CARICOM's 28th Summit
By Rickey Singh
FRESH FROM the just-concluded unique "Conference on the Caribbean" in Washington, CARICOM Heads of Government begin their 28th regular annual summit today, with a ceremonial opening in the couryard of the Barbados Parliament--the oldest such institution in this hemisphere..
The agenda for their plenary working sessions, the first of which begins tomorrow morning at the new Barbados Hilton, is full of pressing issues, some of which have dominated previous summits and inter-sessional meetings.
For instance, completing the framework arrangements in 2008 for phased implementation of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME)--now guided by the Norman Girvan-authored document "Towards s Single Economy and a Single Development Vision".
Secondly, strengthening the foundation of what has recently been identified as the "fourth pillar" of the 15-member Community--"security".
This "pillar" covers, among other burning social issues, endemic crime and violence; health, trafficking in arms, drugs and people, as well as a new emphasis on terrorism threats, following the foiled JFK airport "terrorist plot", and amid recurring concerns that this particular aspect may be externally-driven.
The three other "pillars" that have been standing virtually from the inception of the region's integration movement are trade and economic development; foreign policy and functional cooperation.
If there has been a time when "functional cooperation" should be seriously upgraded for new implementation strategies, that time is certainly now; and this week's summit is challenged to make it a ground-breaking event in this particular area, according to some senior ministers and top regional technocrats.
CARICOM leaders paying heed, would be aware of the cries of the people to treat regional air and sea transportation as a most urgent priority for action in the area of functional cooperation.
In our "Community of sovereign states", vital sectors like tourism and agriculture remain vulnerable due to lack of concrete plans to make a reality of long promised regional projects in air and sea transportation.
Chief spokesman on regional transportation is Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Community's outgoing chairman.
After Cricket World Cup 2007, there are now rising protestations across the Community against escalating air fares; more uneasiness over threats to the survival of a few regional carriers, and as hopes of a ferry service to supplement intra-regional movement of people and goods, continue to be dashed with every passing CARICOM summit.
In this situation, therefore, as some regional technocrats argue, the Heads of Government should pay close attention to calls for narrowing of the credibility gap between promises and action in the 34th year of a Community in which just one full-fledged member state could still frustrate any major decision from implementation.
So much for the challenges of "collective sovereignty" that must be seriously addressed to make the emerging CSME a significant success.
In the prevailing circumstances, it may be useful for morale-boosting and confidence-building of the Community's people for this week's summit to come forward with at least a skeletal check-list on where we are at in terms of implementation of arrangements on, for example:
Transportation: The forging of a cohesive programme for regional air and sea transportation about which CARICOM leaders have been talking about for more than two decades.
Development Fund: Exactly when will the Community be "ready" to inaugurate the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF), provided for in the Community Treaty, and deemed integral to the emerging seamless economy--especially the so-called "disadvantaged" ones?
Envisaged to be operational with some US$250 million in funding (US120 million by CARICOM) and the rest from donor governments and agencies, there is now a reported major hurdle to be crossed in the modalities of its management and operations.
Should, for instance, the fund function under a separate charter or, as some major potential donors prefer, within the ambit of the Caribbean Develoment Bank (CDB) which has done much of the basic work in helping to shape it?.
Some answers would have to be forthcoming from Barbados' Prime Minister Owen Arthur, host and chairman of this week's summit, who was mandated by his Community colleagues to chair a Resource Mobilisation Task Force for the CDF.
Energy security: Further, there is the need for public enlightenment on the status of plans for energy security, especially against the backdrop of the Venezuela-initiated PetroCaribe and last month's "Joint Statement" with President George Bush pertaining to new concerns that "more than 95 percent of CARICOM's energy needs are derived from fossil fuels..."
Is there to be a supplementary initiative on bio-fuels? The CARICOM leader to deal with both the regional energy policy and programmes, as well as the expanding "security pillar" within the Community, will be Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
Food Security: Required also is an update on arrangements for the transformation of Caribbean agriculture with "food security" as a core objective.
This would involve breaking the heavy dependence on foreign imports, currently costing an estimated US$3 Billion--in the face of some member countries continuing to default on preferential purchase of what's produced in CARICOM. An example is Guyana's rice.
President Bharrat Jagdeo has lead responsibility for transformation of the Community's agriculture sector, and is expected to report on the outcome of a Agriculture Donors Conference last month in Port-of-Spain..
Health: To what extent has implementation taken place on the report of the Sir George Alleyne-led blue-ribbon 'Caribbean Commission on Health and Development", submitted two years ago this month?
The central theme of the Commission's report is based on the slogan "The Health of the Region is the Wealth of the Region" that emerged from CARICOM's "Nassau Declaration" of 2001. ,What progress has been made, as a Community, in some of the critical areas highlighted.
A progress report is required on actions taken on the Commission's focus on the "alarming increase" in chronic non-communicable disease---including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and hypertension, as well as the daunting problem of obesity among adults (male and female) and children.
Rights Charter: On human rights and freedoms, it is more than high time also for an update on efforts made to elevate the CARICOM Charter of Civil Society into a legally-binding document. The charter was endorsed 10 years ago by CARICOM governments.
In the absence of it being made a legally-binding instrument, it is felt that the charter should at least be submitted for approval by national parliaments so that violations may be alluded to in relevant court cases.
A time-line is required also for the proposed new governance architecture for CARICOM--whether or not having at its core a recommended high-level commission, empowered with executive authority.
The latest report dealing with effective governance for "mature regionalism" is that of a Technical Working Group, headed by former Director General of the OECS Secretariat, Vaughan Lewis, and considered at CARICOM's Inter-Sessional Meeting in Kingstown, St.Vincent, this past February.
It would be a welcome surprise to learn that for this 28th CARICOM summit, the leaders are anxious to cut the talk and do the walk for an "action agenda" on implementation priorities.
Particularly in relation to the inauguration of the CARICO Development Fund; new governance arrangements; and in facing up to the crisis situation on regional air and sea transportation.
The new British government and the Caribbean
By Sir Ronald sanders
(The writer is a business executive and former Caribbean diplomat)
Britain remains of sufficient importance to countries of the Caribbean that many of them will be deeply interested in how the change of Prime Minister from Tony Blair to Gordon Brown will affect them.
The one person of Caribbean origin in the Blair Cabinet, Baroness Valerie Amos, has gone but another person of Caribbean origin has joined Brown’s Cabinet Baroness Patricia Scotland.
Guyana-born Baroness Amos held many positions in the Blair administration including Foreign Office Minister, Secretary for International Development and finally Leader of the House of Lords. She has now been nominated for the post of European Union (EU) special representative to the African Union.
Dominica-born Baroness Patricia Scotland is the Attorney-General in Brown’s government. Undoubtedly, this is a remarkable development. It is the first time in British history that a woman is Attorney-General and the first time that a black person holds this important post.
Baroness Scotland had also served the Blair government as parliamentary under secretary in the foreign office, parliamentary secretary at the Lord Chancellor’s Department and recently as Home Office Minister of State for the Criminal Justice system and Law Reform.
Between them, these two Baronesses exercised considerable influence in getting the Blair administration to pay some attention to the Caribbean.
Although Baroness Amos has gone at Gordon Brown’s behest, the fact that he has promoted Baroness Scotland to the post of the government’s senior law advisor will help to retain the votes of Caribbean people in the UK who have traditionally supported the Labour Party.
But, it is to the new Foreign Secretary and other ministers in the British foreign and commonwealth office as well as the new International Development Secretary that the Caribbean will have to look to ensure that it keeps what little attention is given to Caribbean causes.
The new Foreign Secretary is David Miliband. While there is no record of his showing any interest in the Caribbean, there are indications that his views on some issues coincide with the expressed positions of Caribbean governments. For instance, even though Mr Miliband’s heritage is Jewish, he has criticised both the US and Israel over the Israeli attack on Hezbollah last summer.
On climate change, which is an issue of great concern to Caribbean countries, because of increased and more intense hurricanes linked to global warming, he has considerable interest and is sure to push it as part of Britain’s foreign policy agenda. He has also shown that he is not reluctant to face up to issues with the United States and last year he made it clear in a speech in the US that the challenges of climate change demand “strong leadership” from Washington if they are to be met successfully.
As I write this commentary no announcement has been made about Lord Triesman, the foreign office minister who had responsibility in the Blair government for relations with Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Overseas Territories, and the Commonwealth.
But, at least one of his subject areas, Africa, has gone to an interesting new foreign office minister who, while he will not be a Cabinet minister, will attend Cabinet meetings as necessary. This is Malloch Brown, who served as an aide to former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Anan, and who was critical of President George W Bush’s administration over Israel and Lebanon. He will also have responsibility for Asia and the UN. In many policy areas such as the middle-east and development issues, Malloch Brown’s and many Caribbean governments should see eye to eye.
The other appointment that should be of interest to the Caribbean is the Secretary for International Development. He is Douglas Alexander a close political ally of Gordon Brown’s having served in the past as his researcher and speech writer.
Alexander has been Minister of Trade and Minister for Europe, so he should be no stranger to Caribbean issues in the current negotiations with the European Union (EU) for an Economic Partnership Agreement. To underscore Alexander’s importance, Gordon Brown has also appointed him the coordinator of the Labour Party’s strategy for the next general election. He will, therefore, wield considerable influence.
As for the new Prime Minister himself, he has shown little interest in the past in Caribbean matters. And, it will take some doing for the Caribbean to engage his attention for two main reasons.
First, he now has both eyes on establishing himself in the minds of the British electorate as the man best able to lead them after the next general elections. In this, he has a fight on his hands and the opposition Conservative Party has wasted no time in making his life uncomfortable. Brown has set himself an agenda for change change in education, health and housing particularly. It is an agenda that will occupy his every waking moment.
Second, throughout his period as Britain’s Finance Minister, Gordon Brown’s overseas preoccupation has been poverty in Africa. This is unfinished business, and the Caribbean will recede deep into the background as he struggles to tackle it under pressure from several vocal and influential non governmental organisations.
If the Caribbean is to engage this new Brown government, much work has to be done at the diplomatic and ministerial levels. And, the help of the Caribbean Diaspora in the UK will be vital, particularly as general elections approach.
Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com
Advancing integration between Caricom and Central America
By Odeen Ishmael
As part of the efforts to expand regional integration, the second joint summit of heads of state and government of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the Central American Integration System (SICA) convened in Belize City, Belize on 12 May 2007. The first summit was held in February 2002, also in Belize City. And now with a more organised approach to integration in place, the leaders decided to hold future summits every two years, with Nicaragua hosting the next one in May 2009.
In preparation for this recent summit, the Ministers responsible for Foreign Affairs, the Economy and Foreign Trade held discussions in Belize in February 2007 on strengthening the political dialogue and cooperation, and expanding trade between the two hemispheric sub-regions.
Significantly, the summit reaffirmed the action plan drawn up by the Foreign Ministers at their February meeting, by which Caricom and SICA aimed to further increase cooperation in numerous areas, including human development, health, housing, poverty eradication, environment and disaster mitigation, foreign policy coordination, foreign trade and investment, crime and security, the fight against corruption, air transportation, tourism, and cultural exchanges.
For many years, both sides had expressed the importance of establishing a joint free trade agreement (FTA). The Foreign Trade Ministers, during the February meeting, agreed on this direction, and the summit formalised this by deciding to start discussions for such an accord. The heads decided to use as a basis the current Caricom-Costa Rica FTA which provides for accession by other countries of the two sub-regions and regarded as the most appropriate tool for achieving the early realisation of enhanced trade relations among the participating countries.
As a result of this decision, a preparatory meeting of Caricom and SICA representatives was subsequently held in Panama City on 30 May to discuss the framework of the FTA. Among the issues considered were the legal format that would constitute the agreement; the amendments and revisions that must be incorporated to align the integration of the other SICA members into the framework of the Costa Rica Caricom FTA; and market access such as rules of origin, customs rules and administrative procedures.
A critical trade issue which has seen a long running difference between the two sub-regions is over the matter of preferential treatment by the European Union for bananas produced in Caricom member-states. Commenting on this problem which was aired at the summit, Barbados’ Prime Minister Owen Arthur emphasised that since Caricom and Central America “have a common and shared vulnerability”, they must “really try to find common ground on matters where there is a common vulnerability.” Noting that this situation has existed for some time, he said that “it is through meetings like this and through the determination to find means and mechanisms for cooperation in the future that such conflict in the past may be avoided in the future.”
But it was not just the trade issue that took centre stage. Other crucial matters such as natural disasters, energy, investments and transportation received emphasis. Noting that natural disasters and climate change present a grave danger to Central America and the Caribbean, the summit saw the necessity for closer coordination between the relevant bodies established within the framework of Caricom and SICA. As a result, a high level meeting on “Environment and Disaster Prevention and Mitigation” is currently being planned for Honduras in order to discuss and analyse a proposal for a joint project in both sub-regions.
And in a further effort to intensify their efforts to combat and mitigate the potentially devastating impact of climate change on the countries of both regions, Caricom and SICA will also collaborate on proposals that may be incorporated in the multilateral regime presently being negotiated. They will also support the proposal that the UN Economic and Social Council should hold a special session at the level of Foreign Ministers in the margins of the 62nd Session of the UN General Assembly in September this year.
In addition, the summit involved itself in a thorough discussion on the question of energy in the light of the serious effect of energy costs on the economies of both sub-regions. The leaders discussed practical ways to address this situation, including pursuing renewable energy alternatives, diversifying energy sources and encouraging energy conservation. They also set an objective to harmonise regional energy policies and strengthen the energy sector in the member-states.
An important part of the discussions centred on the question of security and the expanding problem of crime. In this respect, both groups decided to advance cooperation in the fight against organised crime, including illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons, drug trafficking, among other criminal activities, through the exchange of information and the establishment of mechanisms aimed at reinforcing such collaboration.
Hailing the summit as a success, and pointing to the agreement reached between the two sub-regions, Belize’s Prime Minister Said Musa said, “We believe that this bold initiative will not only bring our peoples closer together but also help in the fight against poverty”
Indeed, both Caricom and SICA have cooperated in many hemispheric and other multilateral issues over the past decade. Such cooperation is very active at the UN where both groupings participate as members of the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) and at the OAS where they share similar views on political, economic and social problems affecting the smaller economies of the hemisphere.
Undoubtedly, this overdue summit has reinvigorated the natural alliance between Caricom and SICA whose member-states are all classified as smaller economies. Operating from the cooperation agreement of this summit and the action plan crafted by the Foreign Ministers, both sub-regions can now take concrete decisions in their mutual interests at multilateral forums such as the OAS, the UN and at the World Trade Organisation discussions. More particularly, by increasing their political consultations on a more streamlined basis in the regional, hemispheric and international forums, they are now in a better position to identify areas of consensus while working to develop joint positions and coordinate on issues of mutual interest regionally and internationally.
Is CARICOM working?
By: Rev. Kwame Gilbert
Caricom in its formation, comprises two groups of countries; the More developed Countries (MDC’s) and the Less Develped Countries (LDC’s) .
Founded in1973, CARICOM now celebrates 34 years in existence. Thirty three years I believe, is sufficient time to realize the collective dream of its member states .CARICOM, as we are aware, is a continuation of CARIFTA, the Caribbean Free Trade Area .Based on the minimum level of cooperation in a free trade area, we can safely conclude that CARIFTA achieved its goals, particularly regarding the elimination of tariffs and imports quotas.
Caricom’s mandate, I dare say, has not seen the same level of success. There continues to be much discussion on the inadequacy of regional policy towards the national needs of the member countries. We continue after 34 years to still struggle with a crisis of the integration system, a structural crisis of a specific framework for developing and working towards a certain quality of collective life and an ideal of unity for the peoples of the region.
One must, however, in fairness to the process, give credit for the introduction of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME). But even the functional framework of this initiative is of some concern to me. While one cannot honestly disagree with the proponents that the benefits of this initiative are numerous, consideration has to be given to the fact that greater benefits will be derived by the MDC’s, and consequently the LDC’s if those issues are addressed , or the LDC’s in the region will continue to haemorrhage. It is a fact that CSME has led to an unprecedented brain drain in many parts of the region.
Contextually speaking, it is not represented as such, but rather as a movement of skilled personnel from primarily LDCs to MDCs. It is a fact also that the quality of our relationship as a region suffers as a result of immigration policies and practices affecting the execution of the mandate of the CSME. What is missing I believe is a mandatory conditionality that requires member states to conform to trade agreements as a prerequisite for the employing of nationals from CARICOM member states . In other words, you cannot have our human resources if you will not take our export products. CARICOM’s expectation that integration in the region promises economic gains by providing an avenue for increase regional and extra-regional trade is nothing but a fleeting illusion; at least from a Guyanese perspective.
It is my view and I believe it is substantiated by the preponderance of evidence that CARICOM trade has not benefited Guyana. Caricom trade is and has been dominated by Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago and to some extent Jamaica. The records are there to prove that the percentage of trade that takes place within the region, scarcely benefits Guyana’s Foreign Trade sector.
Most of our traditional agricultural crops have, out of great necessity, found their way to markets outside of the region. As I have said, this is not of choice, but primarily on the basis that our brothers and sisters in the CARICOM family are talking the talk but not walking the walk when it comes to trade relations in the region.
Only recently Guyana’s rice exporters found it necessary to begin proceedings in the Caribbean Court of Justice against Montserrat and Antigua after they breached the COTED regulations on extra regional importation.
Recently also, the Minister of Foreign Trade expressed frustration over the disregard for established rules governing Common External Tariffs. The defaulters identified were Antigua, Grenada and St. Vincent. It is clear that trade within the region has denied Guyana her share of the pie. The results therefore concur; regional integration does not necessarily increase trade flows and in some cases may even be associated with a decline. While Caribbean integration has provided numerous non-economic gains, the continued imbalance in trade practices is potentially harmful to many of the countries in the region. While Guyana has been vigorously pursuing openings in Europe and Latin America for example, it is no idle boast when we say that Guyana’s agriculture sector has the capability of feeding the entire Caribbean. All we ask for is a level , open playing field .Trade offers an opportunity for economic gains that are best realized within an environment that supports skilled resources, sound and credible government institutions, and technological development. Without these fundamentals, the pursuit of economic gains via regional integration will likely continue to be disappointing.
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