CARICO – SICA Summit outlines regional cooperation
The story played second fiddle to the boiling controversy over the U.H.S. bailout, but last week Belize City was a diplomatic hotspot for both CARICOM and Central American leaders. The series of technical and ministerial meetings culminated on Saturday with the second summit of the heads of government from the two sub-regions. At the end of the gathering Prime Minister Said Musa offered a summary of its accomplishments.
Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
“We discussed and agreed on the need to launch an agreement between our sub-regions which will cover trade, energy, investments and transportation. We believe that this bold initiative will not only bring our peoples closer together but also help in the fight against poverty. Secondly, we agreed that natural disasters and climate change present a grave danger to our countries and we agreed on the need for closer cooperation between [acronym unintelligible], CEDERA and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre. Finally we had an in depth discussion on the question of energy; the cost of energy is having a serious effect on our economies. We therefore analyzed the situation and discussed practical ways to address this issue including perusing renewable energy alternatives.”
And if it seems like there are an inordinate amount of summits these days, don’t worry, nobody knows it better than those who must endure them. Prime Minister Owen Arthur of Barbados explained.
Owen Arthur, Prime Minster of Barbados
“We’re having summits now with countries in Europe. We have summits among ourselves. We have summits with a variety of other countries and to have too many summits I’m sure it’s gonna lead to you in Belize complaining that your Prime Minster is out of the country too often. What do you want? Are you gonna kill him?”
Jules Vasquez, Channel 7
“How do you prevent consensus on issues like bananas where small states in this region, in the Caribbean, are marketed?”
Owen Arthur
“I made a point at this meeting that even though our histories may be different and whatever we should approach – CARICOM and Central America that is – should approach matters relative to our integration in the global economy society recognizing that we have a common and shared vulnerability and that we really must try to find common ground on matters where there is a common vulnerability. Now there has been a history, I think, of conflict but 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.”
Said Musa
“I believe that Belize has clearly demonstrated because of our geographic position and because of our histories past that we are a clear link between the Caribbean, CARICOM in particular, and Central America, SICA. We are building this bridge; it’s a work in progress and as I said today in my short address I believe Belize can and has been serving as a catalyst to forge this stronger relationship between what should be a natural relationship, frankly, because it is one neighbourhood that we are in, a wider Caribbean, and we are affected by many of these things commonly. And therefore it is vital that before we start talking about sorting out trade relations say with a huge country like the United States of America we need to have a clear understanding about what kind of trade relations we want with our own immediate neighbours. I think that is that is the spirit in which we are working.”
Owen Arthur
“May I add piece? Before you came the Prime Minster and I were discussing how Barbados especially can give more financial support for the Centre for Climate Change that is here. On the plane that I came here on were a group of Barbadian investors who have invested thirty-five million dollars in Belizean agriculture and it is to the mutual benefit of the two countries that the rest of the region should support the growth and the full achievement of the objectives of the Centre for Climate Change. But I believe that you in Belize will see more and more of the face of the Caribbean Single Market and Single Economy in the form of new productive investments of the kind that Barbadian investors are making in Belize that will enable you to expand you production, greater employment, expand your exports and to be able as we all will benefit from the interchange of management skills and things of the nature.”
The heads agreed to hold a joint CARICOM-SICA summit every two years, with the next meeting to be held in Managua, Nicaragua in May 2009.
