CARICOM trade ministers meet in Belize
The meeting comes at a time when there is a lot happening in the Caribbean: a political crisis in Haiti, maritime disputes involving Trinidad, Barbados, and Guyana, not to mention a regional integration process moving with all the speed of a conch. Patrick Jones reports from the Princess Hotel on day one of the CARICOM Trade Ministers meeting.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
The Trade Ministers sat down for two days of deliberations on a number of regional issues, including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy and the progress of negotiations at the World Trade Organization and the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Chairman of the Council on Trade and Economic Development is St. Lucia’s Minister of International Trade, Julian Hunte.
Julian Hunte, Chairman, COTED
“The technicians will explain to us some of the difficulties that they may be having in implementing the political decisions that we take. And it is this discourse that is important at the meeting so that we can better understand some of the difficulties that the technical people may have and where necessary offer new instructions. By and large, they follow the political dictates of the heads.”
But while the politicians have signalled their support for the C.S.M.E., Hunte says their actions leave much to be desired.
Julian Hunte
“I am not happy with the pace at which we moving with the C.S.M.E., because I’ve always felt that it would it be better for us to have the single market and economy under our belt and then enter into these multi-lateral trading discussions. However, it’s all running parallel now and we hope that come 2005 we will have the single market and economy in place, which would then facilitate further what would be the bedrock of our negotiations.”
That optimistic outlook faces many challenges, but the St. Lucian says the goal is reachable.
Julian Hunte
“We’ll be pressing for even more progress because I don’t think that the international community is necessarily waiting on us. So we really have to pull our act together. There may be shortcomings, because negotiating three agreements at the same time can be a bit taxing for our technicians. And so we have to look at this seriously if that needs to be augmented in order to ensure that we keep apace of what is taking place. In other words, it’s not getting any easier, it’s getting a lot more difficult as we come to grips and some of these negotiations in fact converge.”
Prime Minister Said Musa says that as the region threads the delicate channels of negotiations, the best interest of the peoples of the Caribbean must remain at the forefront of whatever collective and individual decisions that are made.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“We accept the inevitability of change, but change must serve the common good. Our small size, the nascency of our development, and our limited resource base all dictate that our insertion into the global economy must be gradual. We believe that that is also the CARICOM view. The long-standing trade arrangements which we have enjoyed should only be dismantled if the new arrangements allow us to continue to develop and increase the quality of life of our people.”
CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington says this first ministerial council meeting for the year comes at a time when the Caribbean Community is being severely tested, and its response will, for better or for worse, determine the future.
Edwin Carrington, CARICOM Secretary General
“How we respond in the coming weeks and months will go a long way in proving how much we have matured over the past thirty years. The only view I wish to express at this time is, if events of the past week in our newest member state, Haiti, do not drive home to us all that more than ever, we need to strengthen our cooperation, relying more on ourselves and less on others, then we are virtually doomed as a Caribbean civilization.”
Patrick Jones, for News 5.
With regard to the situation in Haiti, CARICOM heads met on Tuesday and Wednesday in emergency session in Kingston, Jamaica. Prime Minister Said Musa was represented by Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs Godfrey Smith. A release from the Government Press Office reports that the leaders were concerned about the precedent of removing a democratically elected leader and expressed disappointment at the reluctance of the U.N. Security Council to respond immediately to appeals from Haiti’s legitimate government. As for military intervention by Caribbean nations, it was decided that CARICOM forces would not participate in the initial multinational interim force authorised by the United Nations, but would form part of the stabilisation force that will follow to aid in Haiti’s rebuilding. Sources in Belmopan indicate that a contingent of approximately thirty-five members of the Belize Defence Force will be sent to Haiti when that time comes.
