Blake: Region needs unity to negotiate

And by all accounts, the road ahead for the region will be much easier once the Caribbean comes together to compete as a bloc on the world market. According to Byron Blake, CARICOM Assistant Secretary General, the idea is to take stock of where we are, focus on the future, and devise the way forward.

Bryon Blake, Assistant Secretary General, CARICOM

“Because we are a single market, or a customs union, for the trade negotiations the countries can’t do it individually, they will still have to come back. But secondly, and more importantly, in terms of the kinds of persons we are negotiating with, when you are negotiating with thirty-four countries in the Americas, of which you are the smallest ones, both in terms of economic size, in terms of the population, and therefore in terms negotiating strength, everybody understands that you can’t go out there and do that negotiation by yourself. Everybody recognises that, so it’s not so much the incentive CARICOM is offering to not negotiate, but the fact that we have to draw on the entire Caribbean strength, CARICOM strength, to be part of those negotiations. The question as to whether we are fully prepared for the negotiations, which is a very important question, and is actually what the ministers will be trying to discuss, trying to take a gauge of. Have we covered all technical aspects that we have to cover, do we have strong enough proposals?”

“There is a group organised to carry the negotiations, and we know that each country knows that they cannot negotiate individually because when you are negotiating with the United States, even CARICOM as a group is a very weak and uneven partner, leave alone any particular member.”

On Wednesday, trade ministers will meet in caucus on Caye Chapel before the start of the sixteenth session of the Council of Trade and Economic Development on Thursday. The meetings will take place at the Princess Hotel in Belize City.