CARICOM SINGLE MARKET & ECONOMY

Caribbean Passport

2008-12-19T05:39:00.000-08:00

Commentary: CARICOM passport - a joke

Published on Friday, December 19, 2008 Email
By Sir Ronald Sanders
Source Caribbean Net News

Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says the current situation in which holders of Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) passports are not enjoying any real attendant benefits is “almost laughable”.

The situation is not “almost” laughable. It is laughable.

The CARICOM passports provide not one more practical benefit than the national passports of the CARICOM member countries. At the airports of some CARICOM countries, many holders of CARICOM passports are subject to the same scrutiny, the same suspicion and the same grilling by immigration officers that they endured prior to the adoption of the passport by some CARICOM states.

The CARICOM passport does not even provide the “symbolism” of one-Caribbean people that it was supposed to engender. If anything, it does the opposite by emphasizing that, despite the fact that CARICOM has existed for 35 years, there remains no welcome mat at the doorstep of many CARICOM countries for the people of their partner states.

In the official literature related to the Caribbean Single Market (CSM), it says that CARICOM enjoys “free movement of goods, services, capital and people”. A quarrel could be picked and won on the motion that none of these categories of free movement exist, but on the last of them – people – most of all.

The reality is that CARICOM is a single market “in the making”, and one that is being made very slowly despite the urgency that has existed for some time to get on with its completion.

North Americans and Europeans enjoy far greater freedom of everything in CARICOM states than CARICOM nationals do. And, the recently signed Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and individual CARICOM states will give European companies and individuals greater freedom, rights and protections in CARICOM countries than CARICOM governments give to companies and individuals of their own states.

Some governments will point out that there are groups within their countries who, through their own insecurities, are virulently anti CARICOM nationals. That is so. But no government should pander to such short-sighted insularity. Instead, they should educate their populations about the importance of deeper CARICOM integration for their own survival. They ought not to pretend – as some do - that they possess some unidentified magic formula to prosper on their own for it is simply not true.

Governments, who indulge in this pretence, do their people an enormous disservice. If people conduct their lives in the belief that they have no need to worry, when the crunch comes, they will be fatally unprepared.

Two points are worth making here.

First, in the case of many CARICOM countries, a significant portion of their exports of manufactured goods and services relies on the CARICOM market. If the CARICOM markets bought elsewhere, these countries would suffer – a fact that many governments fail to tell their people.

Second, if CARICOM nationals in many CARICOM states were to leave, the economies of these states would decline in myriad ways. Not only would they lose skilled and unskilled labour that they need, they would lose the taxes these people pay, the services they use such as rented houses, and the money they spend in the economy on items such as food, clothing, transportation, utilities, and medical care.

In this regard, the authorities in all CARICOM countries should be mindful of the importance of according to CARICOM nationals, who are legitimately living and working in their states, the rights and respect to which they are entitled. They should not be treated as “second-class”; they should not be exploited and they should have the same rights of protection as any legitimate resident in the country. Picking-up people in the middle of the night and deporting them without due process is not right or legal; nor is deporting people who are legitimately waiting for a work permit to be renewed. This is especially so when the only people treated in this way are those from the Caribbean.

It should also be clearly understood by all that at some time in the not too distant future, all CARICOM countries will be confronted by the stark reality that they cannot survive on their own. In the cycle of livelihood, some countries have enjoyed the upswings that have come from preferential markets and official development assistance –both of which are declining fast. In the enjoyment of the temporary upswing, they seem to have forgotten that CARICOM’s small and vulnerable economies are not sufficiently well endowed or diversified to survive on their own, and the downturns come. And when they come, they do so with a vengeance.

Were the countries of CARICOM a genuine Single Market in which free movement of goods, services, capital and people were a reality, they might have a better chance of survival. As one small example, think of what would have happened in the mighty United States in the present financial crisis, if it was not a single market and economy and each of its 51 states had to struggle for itself.

Businesses in CARICOM states have long recognised the value of a Single Market with free movement of goods, services, capital and people. If there were free movement in all these areas, they know that CARICOM would be a stronger entity today better able to cope with the world economic crisis.

And, on the matter of free movement of people, businesses know that they would have a wider pool of people on whom to draw for the knowledge and skills they need to compete both in the global community and in their own domestic market where, increasingly, they have to fend off foreign competition. The most apt analogy is the West Indian Cricket team. If we can’t find 11 globally competitive players in all the CARICOM states together, how will we each find them from within our individual borders?

The truth is that the issue of movement of CARICOM nationals between all CARICOM countries can be settled if CARICOM becomes a genuine Single Market with freedom of movement of all the factors of production including labour. Both the gain and the pain will be shared by all.

Sir Ronald Sanders is a business executive and former Caribbean diplomat who publishes widely on small states in the global community. Reponses to:
ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com

Cracks in CARICOM

2008-08-01T06:41:00.000-07:00

Cracks in CARICOM

Source: Freeport News

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Published: Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was convened during the first week of July in Antigua and Barbuda and the discussion on the European Partnership Agreement (EPA), among other items, gave some indication of the growing discord in the CARICOM integration movement.

Guyana, which claimed it had the most to lose if the current EPA deal was sealed without amendment, remained stubborn throughout the meeting.

It argued that the EPA would give Europe a favoured trading partner status that could adversely affect trade agreements with other parts of the world; a position not dissimilar to sentiments expressed locally in The Bahamas on the proposed agreement.

They also argued that the discriminating preferential trade agreements offered by the European Union were incompatible with the World Trade Organization's (WTO) rules and they therefore urged the Community to consider a renegotiation of the deal.

On the matters of the freedom of movement and the single market, there still appears to be wide differences. Complaints about the humiliating treatment of CARICOM nationals by immigration authorities in some countries were lodged and the question was raised as to whether the hassle-free travel envisioned in the revised treaty of Chaguramas would ever materialize.

Some countries revealed that they do not yet have the national capacity to implement all the requirements of the single market and economy, particularly at this time when the region is facing, perhaps, some of its greatest challenges inclusive of escalating food and energy prices.
The CARICOM Treaty requires each member state to take the necessary constitutional and legislative steps to enable the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as the final Court of Appeal for the Community; many states have not done so yet nor are there any visible efforts on their part to do so in the near future.

Indeed, it was observed that none of the members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Dominica, St. Kitts, et al) have yet committed to the process. Indeed, most of these sovereign states have in fact signed on to the Bolivian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), which is the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez's creation as the regional trading arrangement to replace, or in his words, to destroy, the Free Trade of the Americas (FTAA) process which was developed by the Americans on former President Clinton's watch.
ALBA, which has a substantial economic aid component, is regarded by some Caribbean countries as a historic watershed in the relations between Latin America and the Caribbean; others are much more cynical and feel that the effort would be better spent in forging stronger ties within the region.

Although Venezuela is in favour of higher oil prices as a way of punishing the United States, it has provided through Petrocaribe, an oil-price support program, the means by which some Caribbean states could obtain relief.

Those states, by the way, are also taking full advantage of the Petroleum Development Fund which was established by sister Caribbean nation, Trinidad and Tobago, for virtually the same purpose.

While the Caribbean integration movement is by no means at a standstill, the cracks in the ambitious wall of the single market and economy appear to be widening over time as opposed to narrowing with maturity, as was the case with the European Union, the organization upon which it was modelled.

One head of state at the meeting summed it up rather eloquently by blaming "the politics of limited regional engagement in Jamaica...; the politics of ethnicity in Trinidad and Guyana...; separation among large sections of the Barbadian populace...; and, the CULTIVATED ALOOFNESS FROM THE REGIONAL ENTERPRISE BY THE BAHAMAS.

Where there is no strategy the people perish

2008-05-28T03:10:00.000-07:00

Where there is no strategy the people perish
Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Source: Jamaica Observer Editorial

The popular Biblical admonition says that "where there is no vision the people perish". We would like to add, for the sake of Caricom, that a vision is no use unless there is a strategy to realise it.

Let's face it, the Caricom countries have not perished, but economic growth has been disappointing, to say the least. The exceptions are those blessed with energy resources or those who shelter funds avoiding taxation and scrutiny. The fragile economic foundations of Caricom countries are being threatened by a combination of escalating prices for oil and food, the recession in the US economy, crime and drug trafficking.

For the past half-a-century, the region has sought to enhance growth and structural diversification by various forms of collective action. The template has, for the last 30 years, been the deepening degrees of economic integration, with the current incarnation being the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) which sets out broad goals and principles.But we should not need to stress that for the CSME to be a vehicle of economic progress there must be a development strategy, which, to date, has been absent, as evident in the lack of preparedness to engage constructively in pursuing the new export opportunities.

This glaring failure is highlighted by the recent angst over the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union. Even more worrying is the steady decline in the ability to supply the local market, resulting in increasing imports. Take the case of domestic food production: the region's agriculture ministers were recently in Guyana, desperately and belatedly devising a response to the food crisis. Their response will constitute an emergency version of the Jagdeo Initiative for agriculture, but what is needed is an overall development strategy.

The region needs a new development strategy that goes beyond the CSME paradigm. We must stop recycling politically correct platitudes that are unrelated to the national, regional and global realities. The recommendations of "Towards a Development Vision and the Role of the Single Economy" bear a remarkable similarity to those that informed the West Indies Federation of the middle of the last century. It is devoid of fresh thinking and offers nothing useful that can help the governments of the region with the fundamental problems of crime, unemployment, dependence on imported food and the exponential increase in the price of oil.

We urge that a new development strategy be formulated by the end of this year, based on new, solutions-oriented thinking. Which means avoiding 'rounding up the usual suspects' to regurgitate the past. A creative, technically sound and intellectually virile team must be commissioned to chart a practical course to overcome the challenges facing the region.

The Heads of Government must convene a special session to agree on the development strategy for the next decade. The agenda for this meeting must be free of perennial items such as cricket - sacrilegious as this might sound - and a Caricom passport. We must avoid paralysis by analysis and end the tendency to note work done and commission additional work.

To ensure effective implementation of the strategy, a new governance structure for Caricom is critical and, as we have said before, must involve a reorganisation of the Caricom Secretariat based on a management audit by a reputable firm. This, for obvious reasons, is not a task for officials from member states or former employees of the Caricom Secretariat.

EPA Conundrum

2008-05-23T02:24:00.000-07:00

The EPA conundrum
ANTHONY GOMES

Jamaica Observer

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

There are strident calls for the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), due to be signed by Cariforum in July, to be amended, varied or simply not signed. Any possible renegotiation of the treaty, it is acknowledged, might come at a potentially intolerable cost. The strongest demand for change emanates from within the academic community that has raised certain valid issues, which should have been addressed earlier during the negotiations that officially ended on December 31, 2007.

The legal status of initialled EPAs, currently Cariforum's situation, is described by Dr Lorand Bartels, lecturer in International Law and Fellow of Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge. The following relevant excerpts are informative: "Under international law, initialling an agreement demonstrates that the text is authentic and definitive, ready for signature, or although unusual, ready for provisional application. But an initialled text does not itself impose any obligations on the parties. The parties to an agreement are only under an obligation to implement its terms once it has entered into force, which takes place upon ratification or after ratification, if this is specified in the treaty (as it is in the interim and full EPAs). On signature (but not on initialling), a country enters into an obligation not to defeat its object and purpose prior to its entry into force.

"Provisional application may subsequently be terminated by notifying the other party. However, terminating the provisional application of an agreement may indicate an intention not to ratify the agreement, which could result in the EU withdrawing the preferences it had already granted.

Therefore, if parties have concerns about content of the agreements, it may be advisable to refrain from provisional application until the dispute clauses are first revised". It is not known if Cariforum intends to apply the agreement provisionally, but the above caution is worthy of note.
"WTO law sets minimum requirements covering free trade in goods. It does not require the inclusion of liberalisation "multiplier" clauses, such as MFN or standstill clauses. Moreover, the WTO Transparency Decision specifically provides for the possibility of renegotiating an already notified agreement. This has been done on five occasions to date. The only requirements are that the renegotiated agreement be re-notified to the WTO and that it remain WTO legal. This leaves a great deal of scope for renegotiating aspects of the agreements which are not required for WTO legality (for example, the MFN clause and the standstill clauses could be removed without compromising WTO validity)."

According to this dictum, there is room for renegotiation of some aspects of the EPA, but at what price? However, the MFN clause is one of the major concerns for Cariforum and certain third countries, notably Brazil, that has already referred the issue to the WTO for debate.

Professor Bartels continues: "Arguably, it would be unreasonable to hold an ACP country to a standard higher than that which the EU member states apply in their own treaty practice. Consequently, there is a case that a minimum of four years between signature and ratification would be a "reasonable period of time" for an ACP country to endorse the agreement. ACP countries are not precluded by treaty law or WTO law from renegotiating initialled agreements, so long as the resulting agreement is still WTO legal."

This then is an avenue to be explored if COTED decides to move for selected amendments. The main thrust of the implementation plan, however, should be to exploit successfully the opportunities created by eventually signing the agreement.

Another concern raised by observers is the loss of sovereignty relative to the powers vested in the Joint Cariforum-EC Ministerial Council, the principal institution for oversight of the operation and implementation of the agreement. Its functions include examining proposals and recommendations for the review of the agreement. To attain the objectives of the agreement, the council shall have the power to take decisions in respect of all matters covered by the EPA. The specific reference to the council's powers relative to the EPA seems designed to exclude reference to the authority and jurisdiction of The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramus and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). It remains possible, however, that at some time these institutions could be opposed on certain unforeseen overlapping issues.

Other critical points cited were the limiting of Caricom's "policy space", that is the amount of flexibility available for manoeuvre in policy formulation by the Joint Council and its three other supporting institutions, that is, the Joint Cariforum-EC Implementation Committee, The Joint Cariforum-EC Development Committee and The Joint Cariforum-EC Consultative Committee.

Another criticism is the inadequate funding from the 10th European Development Fund (EDF), amounting to 2.2 million Euros per country for development/adjustment.Finally, the regional preference granted to the DR has also created some disquiet. In essence, any preference granted by one Caricom member to another must include the DR. This has created a very beneficial windfall for the DR that is still negotiating outstanding items in its trade agreement with Caricom.

We await the EPA Implementation Plan being developed by the Caricom Secretariat. Hopefully, it should indicate the way forward for Cariforum by unravelling the many complexities contained in this first ever treaty of indefinite duration, and selecting those items of concern for eventual review with the EC.

Guyana- Jamaica Rice Spat

2008-05-08T04:16:00.000-07:00

Guyana - Jamaica Rice Spat

Source: Trinidad and Tobago Express

May 7, 2008

WHEN writing in this column two weeks ago on the scrambling by Caribbean Community governments to face up to the challenges of a deepening international food crisis, little did I realise that Jamaica and Guyana were heading for a serious row over Caricom's Common External Tariff (CET) as it relates to Guyanese rice shipments to the Jamaican market.

People in Trinidad and Tobago may be indulging in bantering over Agriculture Minister Arnold Piggott's surprise to hear that this country is also affected by a "food crisis''. Perhaps Piggott should have a chat with his boss, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who is now seemingly anxious to release arable lands for increased food production.

For sure, Jamaica's threat to override Guyana's resistance to a standing 25 per cent suspension of the CET to enable it to import rice at more favourable prices from outside Caricom is no laughing matter.

Guyana has for years been and remains Caricom's single largest producer and exporter of rice for the regional market. Rice is one of the commodities protected by the CET against unauthorised imports from extra-regional competitors who benefit from significant subsidies at home.

Jamaica's Minister of Industry and Commerce, Karl Samuda, has warned that his government would not sit idly while Guyana defaults on rice shipments to his country (some 52,000 tonnes were shipped in 2007), and especially since the commodity could be obtained on a dependable basis at lower prices from non-regional sources.

Competitive sources for subsidised rice exports to this region have largely been the US and Thailand against which Caricom producers like Guyana and Suriname cannot afford to compete. Hence, the protection of the CET as a mechanism to prevent unfair competition to the detriment of a local industry.

Trinidad and Tobago, now reportedly again contemplating the possibility of commercial rice production, has recorded its own past failures to get a waiver of the CET to permit importation from extra-regional exporters of parboiled rice normally purchased from Guyana.

In the circumstances, it is difficult to see how Caricom's Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), the body that maintains oversight on the application of the CET, can possibly allow Jamaica's quest for a suspension.

Guyana's Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud, has already publicly signalled to Minister Samuda that his country was certainly in no mood to endorse the suspension of the CET.

This, Persaud contends, would be to consciously work against "not only our own national interest in a very vital sector, but also undermine the very mechanism, the CET, we have established in the wider interest of the economies of Caricom...''

Strong stand indeed. The Guyanese minister must also be aware that just recently Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL), with production operations also in Guyana, has found it necessary to refer to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) a dispute it has with the Guyana government for an alleged failure to impose the CET against non-Caricom suppliers of cement for the local market.

Guyana has accused TCL of having defaulted on arrangements to satisfy the demands of the local market, Consequently, it has decided to defend the legal action to be pursued by TCL before the CCJ.

For its part, Jamaica has also been claiming defaults in rice shipments from Guyana. The Guyanese private sector - producers and exporters - as well as the government, have denied this claim. They have countered that Jamaica was engaged in "misrepresentations'' in order to secure sources of foreign rice supplies at prices disadvantageous to Guyana's rice industry and national economy.

This latest spat over rice shipments between Guyana and Jamaica is expected to engage the attention of COTED.

Parties to any trade dispute pertaining to the functioning of the CET under the revised Caricom Treaty are free to access the CCJ, if dissatisfied with a decision by COTED. The CCJ has original jurisdiction on trade disputes within Caricom and its ruling is binding.

Article 83 of the Caricom Treaty makes clear that the criteria for a suspension of the CET has nothing to do with comparative prices for a foreign sourced commodity but its availability, as required, and approved quality of the Caricom product.

Whatever the outcome of this "rice spat'' it is simply one aspect of widening pressures being experienced by the region's economic integration movement and generated by the escalating worldwide food crisis.

History of West Indian Federation Effort

2008-04-27T05:14:00.000-07:00

Remembering a four-year exercise in futility
KEEBLE McFARLANE
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Source- Jamaica Observer

To many of us who were around at the time, it seemed like a great idea - all the British colonies in the Caribbean region banding together in a federation, the better to chart their future. After all, isn't unity more desirable than operating separately? Aren't some of the most successful countries in the world federations? Wouldn't we be able to have much more clout in the world with a unified voice rather than as a collection of micro-states? Wouldn't our economic affairs be much more efficient?

Well, 50 years ago this week, it happened - the Parliament of the Federation of the West Indies was inaugurated in Port of Spain with Princess Margaret representing the Queen.

The federation came into being on January 3, 1958, and an election was held on March 25. The West Indies Federal Labour Party, made up of Norman Manley's PNP, Eric Williams's PNM and the urban-based parties in the eight other islands handily won the election, with the Democratic Labour Party, led by Bustamante's JLP and the rural-based parties throughout the islands, as the much smaller Opposition. Grantley Adams of Barbados was the first (and only) prime minister, and Britain sent out a career Conservative politician, Patrick Buchan-Hepburn, to serve as governor-general. He was a baron, and we knew him as Lord Hailes.

The idea of a federation of the British Caribbean territories was not a new one - it had been kicked around for years. The first serious consideration, though, took place at a conference in Montego Bay in 1947. It was attended by delegates from Barbados, British Guiana, British Honduras, the Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward Islands. The conference voted to accept the principle of political federation and struck a committee to examine the possibilities and to draft a constitution. The committee submitted its report to a second conference held in London, and it was circulated to all the legislatures for their consideration.

With some reservations, all the legislatures, except those of British Guiana, British Honduras and the British Virgin Islands, accepted it. The final decision on federation came out of a third conference in London in 1956. It left open the possibility of the reluctant territories to join later. After that came prolonged and difficult discussions about where the capital should be situated. They chose Chaguaramas in Trinidad, but that didn't work since the US had a naval base there. The idea was soon abandoned and Port of Spain stood in as the capital.

One Commonwealth country which showed considerable interest in the new federation was Canada, which itself began as a confederation of former colonies with large tracts of unknown territories added later. It contributed two merchant ships, the Federal Palm and the Federal Maple, which visited all the islands twice a month. When the federation was dissolved not long after it was born, the ships continued their rounds for a while, then seemed to disappear without a trace.

Despite the good intentions and the efforts of many, the federation was doomed from the start. For one thing, the constituent territories had each developed in its own way, with varying degrees of cooperation commingled with large dollops of suspicion and insularity. Jamaica, the biggest territory by far, and separated from the eastern string by 1500 kilometres of water, was the most suspicious. Its leaders, Manley and Bustamante, did not personally enter federal politics, and Trinidad's Eric Williams stayed away as well.

In addition, the British created a weak government structure, with the governor general having executive, rather than mere ceremonial powers. Money was a serious problem - the budgets of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were both larger than the federal budget, and all the territories remained as separate entities, able, for instance, to hide behind tariff walls against other members of the federation. Contrast this with the present-day European Community, which has a high degree of cooperation and commonality.

The differences and divisions very quickly began to fester, and by 1960 the JLP began agitating against the federation. Bustamante and his cohorts kept the heat on, and in 1961 Manley asked his compatriots for their opinion. The campaign was a contrast between the concepts of the two parties. Manley and the PNP discussed the merits of joining with others to work towards the goal of eventual independence, which he had promoted from his first entry into politics in the late 1930s. Bustamante and the JLP, on the other hand, appealed to the basic concerns of the poor - "Can you eat federation?" In the end, it was no contest - the "No" side won a decisive 54 per cent in the referendum on September 19, 1961. The event was special for me, as I served as a presiding officer at a polling station located at my home.

Britain had proposed in 1961 that the federation should become independent the next year, but the idea was now moot. The vote was followed by a flurry of talks among the leaders of the remaining territories, but these soon came to naught, and Williams was strongly re-elected in December of that year. He declared that "ten minus one is nought", and followed Jamaica's lead in going it alone. Formal independence came to both countries in August of 1962, and the others were left to fend for themselves.

About the only solid regional entity remaining is the university, which had been set up long before all this anyway. The cricket team had long preceded the federation, and all the endeavours since then, such as Caricom, have come up against the same insular attitudes and distrust. The Caribbean Court of Justice is a perfectly logical and intelligent idea, but, as we have witnessed, it has been having a very difficult time getting airborne. Part of the unease among Jamaicans in this regard can be attributed to the underlying suspicion that this could be a form of federation by the back door. When I first went to Toronto and began working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, I met an older editor who had been correspondent in Bonn and London.

He used to joke that the Secretary of State for the Colonies of the day, Duncan Sandys, had the habit of inviting colonial leaders to London and locking them in a room until they agreed to form a federation. Several were formed, including the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the East African Federation (Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika). The only one of note to have survived is Malaysia, after Singapore seceded soon after it began.
keeble.mack@sympatico.ca

Let the People Decide

2008-04-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Jamaicans will decide on regional integration, says PM

Source: Caribbean Net News
Published on Friday, April 11, 2008

Print Version

KINGSTON, Jamaica (OPM):

Prime Minister Bruce Golding said only the people of Jamaica can decide if the country should enter into a unified political structure with the rest of the region. His comments were made on Tuesday, during a courtesy call at Jamaica House by Stuart Jack, Governor of the Cayman Islands.

In responding to a question from Jack about the pace of Caribbean integration, Golding said there is a limit to which any region can integrate without having a political structure. He said however that the decision as to how that political structure will derive its legitimate authority rests ultimately with the people of the region.

Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding. JIS Photo"If we are going to invest in a sovereign authority, only the people can decide," Golding stated. He said the process of integration has been moving along very slowly, especially with regards to the free movement of skilled nationals. He said Jamaica is the only country where the system seems to have worked, adding that a lack of capacity may be one of the reasons it has not worked in others.

He cited the Economic Partnership Agreement and the staging of Cricket World Cup in 2007 as examples of how regional cooperation has worked. He said much more could be achieved especially in the area of security. Turning to US/Caribbean relations, Golding said there is a feeling that the United States has been distracted from its interest in the region by events unfolding in emerging democracies, as well as the war in Iraq.

He said it is hoped that there will be an enlightened approach to the region as a whole and not just towards Cuba, where there was a recent change in leadership. Golding expressed the view that Cuba should be brought into the mainstream of the international fold as there are structures within the United Nations to deal with contending issues. He said now was the time for the region to hold hands and engage in deeper collaboration, as there was enough wealth that could be generated for all countries. He said Jamaica will be seeking to expand its cooperation with Cuba outside of those areas in which both countries are already engaged.

Region Losing Speed to CSME

2008-04-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

Region losing speed to CSME

Published on: 3/16/08.
by: RICKEY SINGH

Source: Nation Newspaper - Barbados

AFTER LAST WEEK'S 19th Inter-Sessional Meeting of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders in The Bahamas, it seems that CARICOM is losing speed in advancing arrangements for the realisation of the promised single economic space by 2015.

There is a growing perception that amid all the intense paperchase associated with rounds and rounds of technical, ministerial and Heads of Government meetings, there continues to be a yawning gap between official assurances and decisions and actual implementation results.

While the ministerial and Heads of Government meetings continue to reflect a spirit of camaraderie the question is whether they are really singing from the same hymn sheet at on specific regional issues.

Like, for instance, crime and security; effective governance (an issue that cannot continue to ignore the need for an administrative mechanism, empowered with executive authority); regional air and sea transportation and, of course, transformation of the region's agriculture sector with a focus on poverty reduction, enhancing food security and job creation.

It is disappointing to note that the multiplicity of meetings, involving valuable time and money, do not seem to be producing the quality of results normally envisioned in the public rhetoric of the leaders.

Nor would it have escaped attention that at the opening session of last week's Nassau summit, the Community's Secretary General, Edwin Carrington, himself felt constrained to sound a warning that the deadline for inauguration of the CSME, seven years from now, may not be met as there are member governments lagging behind in required readiness-arrangements.

Such concerns were previously expressed by others, among them former Barbados Prime Minister, Owen Arthur who until two months ago, had been shouldering for some 14 years CSME-readiness responsibility. This responsibility is now assumed by his successor, David Thompson.

This worrying scenario exists in the face of no known new initiatives to get the establishment of a long promised CARICOM Commission on track, or some similar administrative mechanism to help improve governance of the Community's business.

Then came last week a puzzling declaration from Jamaica's Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, during the Nassau meeting. He resorted to that familiar refrain of past leaders of the Jamaica Labour Party he currently heads: "There is no interest by us (Jamaica) in political union," he said.

Truth is, political union remains taboo within CARICOM--as it has been since the collapse of the short-lived West Indies Federation in 1962. It is not an agenda item for any CARICOM Heads of Government Conference. Most member governments even continue to betray timidity to sever relations with the Privy Council and access, instead, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as their court of last resort.

Of immediate concern, however, about Golding's unnecessary warning on the "ole' talk" on political unity, is that he should have expediently linked this far-fetched development with current efforts to achieve a single economic space through the CSME.

He said that juncture could be the moment for Jamaica's withdrawal (under his JLP administratin of course) from the process because it would also require political integration and, he said, ""once you get there, we have to get off because we are under a mandate that we are not going there . . .".

The crucial question is whether Golding's government is likely to rock the CSME boat when the Community reaches the crucial stage of having to make tough decisions that would involve some measure of devolution of national sovereignty by ALL to give life to the laudable goal of ushering in a common economic space.

At present arrangements are being made for a "special meeting" of Community leaders in Port-of-Spain next month to deal with crime. It also appears that different strokes are being played on different occasions by some, while all leaders keep reassuring us of their "commitment" to make a reality of the policies and programmes of CARICOM.

For example, there is this curious development – as announced from Washington, with no prior signal from the Nassau Summit – of three new CARICOM prime ministers being invited for a White House talk with President George Bush on Thursday. They are Barbados' David Thompson; Belize's Deane Barrow and The Bahamas' Hubert Ingraham (current chairman of CARICOM).

Last June 20, however, there was a full house of CARICOM Heads of Government who had a meeting in Washington with President Bush at the United States State Department as part of a "Conference on the Caribbean".

Caricom Integration and Caricom Sovereignty

2008-03-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

Caricom integration and Caricom sovereignty
Source: Stabroek News
Wednesday, March 26th 2008

A recent comment, and an apparently negative decision by the newly-elected Prime Minister of Jamaica, Mr Bruce Golding give pause for thought on the trajectory of the regional integration movement. This is particularly so given the elaborate publicity given by Heads of Government in recent times to the establishment of the Caribbean Single Market, and to the decision to finalise implementation of the Single Economy by 2015.

Mr Golding is quoted as saying, during the recently-held Caricom Heads of Government in Nassau, Bahamas, that to the extent that the establishment of the Single Economy necessitated the creation of a common economic space, and this in turn required some form of "political integration", "once you get there, we have to get off because we are under a mandate that we are not going there ". This followed an earlier statement by the Prime Minister, when asked about recent statements emanating from the Prime Ministers of Trinidad and Tobago and St Vincent and the Grenadines about possibilities for some form of political union involving their countries, that "there is no interest by us [Jamaica] in political union".

The apparent negative decision referred to above was what seems to be a clear indication given by Mr Golding after his election, that the recommendations by a Caricom-established Working Group on the Governance of the Caricom integration process were not favoured by Jamaica. These recommendations, including the establishment of a Caricom Commission intended to facilitate not only decision-implementation, but the preparatory processes for Caricom's involvement in international negotiations, seem to have been perceived by the Prime Minister as impinging on the sovereignty of Jamaica.

The proposals have had their origins not only in the 1992 West Indian Commission's report "Time for Action", but in the so-called "Rose Hall Declaration" of Heads of Government in 2003 which designated the Caricom integration process as being based on a "Community of Sovereign States". And it was widely believed at the time that the then Government of Jamaica (led by Mr P J Patterson) was a prime mover behind this formulation, designed to put to rest any notion that the Caricom economic integration process was on its way to becoming a form of political union or political integration system.

The effect of Mr Golding's statements and actions in this regard appear to re-open a hornets' nest which many had thought closed. For it would surely be hard to find one Head of Government in Caricom who would believe that Jamaica could be dragged, openly or stealthily, into any political integration with the rest of the membership of the Caricom. After all, for one thing they have been well drilled for some forty years and more into Jamaica's views on this matter; and for another, it is well known that today the membership of Caricom includes the Bahamas, which has long indicated that it would not, given the nature of its economy, wish to participate in the single market and economy, and the Republic of Haiti with a constitutional, political and legal system so different from all the other members.

It could be said, perhaps, that Golding's responses were a sort of knee-jerk reaction to a sensitive issue in Jamaica and that slamming it as hard as possible, as early as possible, would give clarity to friends and foes in his country. But his linkage of the Single Market and Economy with possible political integration at this time seems curious, especially as the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the CSME passed through the Parliament of Jamaica when his Jamaica Labour Party was in the opposition, and there does not seem to have been any indication then of the party's hostility to the CSME.

Observers of the integration movement have been long aware that the JLP, particularly under the long leadership of former Prime Minister Seaga, had doubts about the long-term relevance of the Caribbean Common Market to Jamaica; and it is worth noting that on the conclusion of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, Mr Seaga expressed the view in one of the Jamaican newspapers that the EPA was a now much preferred alternative to the CSME as a future facilitator of Jamaica's economic development. (In this article Seaga also virtually "dissed" the Caribbean Basin Initiative of which he was the original protagonist). Mr Golding has long been seen as an intellectual prot of Mr Seaga, in spite of periodic political differences between them.

Both Mr Seaga and Mr Golding know that in the doldrums in which the Jamaican economy has found itself over the last many years, Jamaican entrepreneurs have had to accept the leadership of Trinidad and Tobago in a process of regional, financial and commercial integration which has involved the purchase of many Jamaican enterprises by Trinidadian entrepreneurs. There is undoubtedly a certain resentment of this in Jamaica, that country, particularly in the 1960s and early 1970s, being seen as leaders in the import-substitution manufacturing process, and in the establishment of indigenous private financial institutions. This kind of resentment boiled over a year or so ago, when it turned out that Trinidad would have to renege on its arrangement to supply Jamaica with LNG (liquefied natural gas), designed to further Jamaica's industrial transformation of its bauxite reserves. And it was accompanied by complaints about the large trade gap, in Jamaica's favour, between the two countries. So the ground for political dissonance is fertile.

But the question that must arise for other Caricom countries is to what extent the Region is ready to accept that, as the diplomats say, pacta sunt servanda: agreements are intended to be kept. There is already a widespread perception outside of the Region (though our political leaders may be hesitant to believe it) that Caricom states have become practiced in the taking and then subsequent postponement of decisions "sine die"(without a designated date, as we say on the adjournment of our parliaments). And we have to surmise that that is one of the reasons for the recent determination of the European Union to virtually force us to sign an EPA agreement on the dotted line before a new year dawned. But that is another story.

Those recent EPA negotiations have, once again, brought home to us that the world is not willing to wait while we engage in our dilatory habits. Mr Golding has observed that the days of preferences are over, and that, in effect, those who yearn for the good old days are living in a dream world. He has not said, or perhaps realized given his recent return to office, that the experience of some of his colleagues is that the days of a Caricom Secretariat machinery basically unchanged since the days of CARIFTA, are also over; and that many of those with whom we have negotiated towards an EPA, are convinced of this.

His hiding behind Jamaica's sovereignty on the issue of the establishment of a modern Caricom implementation system - a Caricom Commission with effective powers - will surely impress none of our external interlocutors, especially when they know that Jamaica, like some other Caricom countries, has handed over decision-making and implementation on security and crime to persons from one EU government, the United Kingdom. For what is more representative of a country's sovereignty than its indigenous ability to ensure the security of its citizens?

It is to be hoped that the very issue of working out a collective approach to security and crime, for which Trinidad is now asking, will induce our leaders to come back again to the issue of appropriate governance, and the relationship between national sovereignty and collective sovereignty in this age of open borders and open markets mandated by the processes of globalization and regionalization. The large countries, be they those of Europe, or a country of fierce nationalism like Mexico, have had to do this. And as Dr Eric Williams once said, "If the sheik could play, who is we?"

Four CARICOM countries consider political union

2008-03-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

Four CARICOM countries consider political union
Source: Caribbean360.com
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, March 03, 2008

A political union involving four southern Caribbean states is up for consideration, and one of the leaders involved in the possible integration has indicated that a study to determine whether the move is possible will first be undertaken.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves said he was looking forward to a union with fellow Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and possibly St. Lucia. Speaking to members of the press at the end of a two-day visit to the twin-island republic over the weekend, Mr Gonslaves noted that any political union between countries must be structured in some formal institutional arrangements, and indicated that former St. Lucia prime minister Dr. Vaughan Lewis, and Trinidadian diplomat Dr. Cuthbert Joseph will be approached to carry out a study on the matter.

"All of us know we cannot continue the way in which we have been going, but yet we don't want to think outside the boundaries of our individual sea and landscape. It is as though we believe we are immune to all the social laws of history," the Vincentian leader said. "For my part, the words political union are not bad words."

Meantime, Trinidad's Prime Minister Patrick Manning said his country stood firm on its position that greater unity is a must for the Caribbean region. He said a political union was therefore welcomed.

"We welcome political integration in the Caribbean and we make ourselves available for discussions on this matter and we will be part of any discussions that will advance that course," he said.

"As it now stands the promising movement that is emerging in the Caribbean is a movement in the southern Caribbean involving Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and hopefully St. Lucia and it will be to that cause of integration in respect of which these four countries are discussing that we will discuss our efforts."

CARICOM & EPA Negotiations

2008-02-27T05:55:00.000-08:00

Caricom 'carry go bring come'
Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Source: Jamaica Observer

Tomorrow, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) member states will assemble in Kingston to spend two days in a retreat on the conduct of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations. This is hard to believe.

The meeting is further evidence that the tradition of complacency about preparing for the future continues to be well-established in Caricom and appears to be in no danger of being replaced by a proactive approach towards inevitable economic change.

The resistance to facing reality is well illustrated by the inexcusable postponement of the restructuring of the sugar and banana industries. This delay has reduced the prospects for attaining international competitiveness and for orderly restructuring.

The recently completed EPA negotiations with the European Union is an opportunity to take a strategic approach to the future economic development of the region. Yet nothing, that we know of, has been done to plan the implementation of the EPA to allow the exporters of goods and services to seize the opportunities in a market of 450 million consumers.

Instead of focusing on implementation, Caricom is devoting time and scarce money to reviewing the structure and process of the EPA negotiations. This is not the best use of the tight human and financial resources of the region. The negotiations are over, and the structure and process of the negotiations, from the ministerial to the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), have produced an EPA. It is the most complex and comprehensive pact which the region has embarked upon. And it is the only one of its kind, as no other ACP region was able to complete one. The institutional arrangements which accomplished this cannot be all bad. The old adage is relevant: If it aint broke, don't fix it.

What is more important is for the governments of the region to move quickly to complete their national review and approval process. The Caricom Secretariat must produce a plan and schedule for implementation as Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding requested in early January. This should include consideration of the establishment of an EPA implementation unit similar to the CSME Unit, while the CRNM continues with the ongoing and planned negotiations, such as those with Canada.

We urge Caricom to dismiss any proposal that the function of external negotiations should be resumed by its secretariat, given the respective performances of the two institutions. It's no secret that the secretariat is less able to undertake external trade negotiations now than when it was necessary to create the CRNM over 10 years ago. Surely, memories cannot be that short.

Regrettably, while Caricom is fiddling, it is jeopardising the opportunity to commence the negotiations with Canada, which were first mooted seven years ago and revitalised by the joint Canada-Caricom decision during Prime Minister Harper's visit to Barbados last year.

It is understandable that the region could not start while it was fully absorbed in the EPA negotiations. But since mid-December, there has been no engagement with Canada. Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic, Central America and the developing countries that compete with Caricom are clamouring to negotiate with Canada.

Enough of this Caricom 'carry go bring come'.

Barbados and CARICOM Integration

2008-01-24T02:16:00.000-08:00

Barbados and the integration movement
Source: Stabroek
Wednesday, January 23rd 2008

As with elections in other countries of the Region, it is natural that the question should be asked as to whether, with the change of government in Barbados, there will be any change in the attitude of the new Democratic Labour Party administration to the regional integration movement.

Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur played a substantial role in bringing the Caricom Single Market and Economy to formal completion. He used his skills as a professional economist to ensure that progress was made steadily. And he utilized his own commitment to the necessity for a CSME to keep other governments on the path to keeping their own commitments to its implementation.

In periodic speeches throughout the Region, Mr Arthur constantly elaborated the rationale for hastening the implementation to a single market, emphasizing that the process of global economic liberalization would not wait for the Region to march to its own beat. Arthur well understood that timely adjustment to liberalization trends was a prerequisite to a beneficial adjustment to the free trade arrangements which the Region was being offered in the 1990's, whether that of the Free Trade Area of the Americas or the European Union's innovation of a Regional Economic Partnership Agreement to replace the Lome/Cotonou Conventions.

There is no doubt that the conclusion of Arthur's government, that Barbados would have to systematically embark on the path of creating a largely services economy, was the mainspring of his commitment to the rapid creation of a CSME. He clearly saw that in spite of the historic contribution of the sugar industry to the economy of Barbados, and indeed the economies of other countries, it would no longer play its traditional role. Therefore while recognizing short-term considerations, the emphasis in negotiating the REPA, for example, should not be, from a long term point of view, on maintaining the protection arrangements for sugar and other agricultural commodities, but on the services industries and other so-called "sunrise" (as against "sunset") industries.

In taking on the role of "lead Prime Minister" responsible for the implementation of the CSME, Arthur also forced an innovation in the Caricom institutional system, in decentralizing its operations from its Georgetown headquarters, through the creation of a special CSME office in Bridgetown. In that way he could have direct oversight of the process.

It was fortuitous too, that Arthur's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Billie Miller, took on a leading role in both the REPA negotiating process as well as in the negotiations towards the still unattained Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Arthur had inherited from the previous Democratic Labour Party government of Erskine Sandiford, the commitment to a focus, in the international sphere, on the need for special consideration of the needs and requirements of small states. The Barbados Declaration on Small Island States (SIDS) therefore provided Arthur with a base for operating as Chairperson of the special Commonwealth Secretariat/World Bank group in the second half of the 1990's, to advocate for the special requirements of Caribbean states in changing international attitudes to economic aid.
From that perspective, it seems unlikely that the new Democratic Labour Party government of Mr David Thompson, will veer much from these orientations. True, in recent times, there has been controversy in Barbados as to whether that country should accept the implications of the economic globalization process and accept foreign (in particular Trinidad and Tobago) acquisition of Barbadian commercial and financial operations.

Arthur seemed to stick to his guns in emphasizing that this was a necessary aspect of acceptance, not only of the inevitability of international liberalization, but of the logic of the CSME itself. At times recently, Thompson's DLP appeared to take a more protectionist view on this issue. But one suspects that as time goes on, the new Prime Minister will probably adopt what has seemed to be Arthur's view: that it is unwise to interfere too substantially in an economic process which appears to have a worldwide, rather than simply Barbadian, logic.
For it has seemed to be his view also, that in playing for a Barbadian private sector presence in the wider regional economic space that is projected to develop, one could not at the same time adopt a protectionist position in respect of the resources of the Barbadian economic space. (Barbadian economic interests, for example, have for some time had a substantial presence in some of the OECS countries).

The orientation of the DLP's electoral campaign seemed to concentrate more on local or domestic matters than on indicating its attitude to regional matters. The DLP seemed to spot that Arthur's Achilles heel lay in not appreciating popular anxieties on matters like housing and the rising cost of living. But oddly enough, last week the Inter American Development Bank announced a substantial loan to Barbados for housing. And in respect of the cost of living issue, Arthur seemed to take the view that in the context of an open economy like Barbados, there was a limit, again, to the kind of protectionist policies one could adopt. The hurried special Heads of Government consultation undertaken at the initiative of the Grenada Prime Minister, did not, in the circumstances, do much to assuage popular feelings. The domestic and international aspects of this problem are now on Thompson's plate.

In general, then, we expect that after a certain period spent on concentration on local arrangements, the new government will largely continue in the path set by Arthur's approach in the last nearly fifteen years.

The DLP inherits the pro-integration traditions of its founder Errol Barrow, one of the initiators of the Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA) process. Thompson will face the same issues as Arthur in respect of an appropriate approach to regional and global economic liberalization ;by an open economy. And we expect that his new Foreign Minister, Chris Sinkler, a leader in the Caribbean non-governmental organizations (NGO's) process advocating better conditions for the Caribbean in international trade, will carry that preoccupation with him into the making of government policy.

Barbados's leadership in the sphere of the special needs for small island developing states, is therefore likely to continue. And certainly as part of that, it is reasonable to expect that the emphasis on the creation of an effective regional economic space, as the base for playing in the international economic sphere, will also continue.

Commissioners of CARICOM Competiton Commision

2008-01-23T04:25:00.000-08:00

Source: CARICOM Secretariat, Guyana

Jan. 22, 2008

Fireworks lit up the Paramaribo sky late on Friday afternoon, 18, January shortly after Dr. Kusha Haraksingh, a national of Trinidad and Tobago was sworn in as Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Competition Commission.

Dr Haraksingh and his six fellow Commissioners took the oath of office, administered by the Chairman of the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission, the Honourable Mr Justice Michael de la Bastide at the Commission’s headquarters in Paramaribo, Suriname. President of the Republic of Suriname His Excellency Drs Runaldo Venetiaan and CARICOM Secretary-General His Excellency Edwin Carrington were among a host of dignitaries who witnessed the swearing-in and participated in the ceremony marking the inauguration of the Commission.
Dr Haraksingh, an economist, historian and lawyer, is the Head of the Department of History, at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine campus. He holds a BA in History, an LLB from the University of London and a PhD in Economic History. Dr Haraksingh was the Lead Negotiator for Legal and Institutional Issues during the recently concluded negotiations between the Caribbean Forum of African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States (CARIFORUM) and the European Union for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). He is also the Lead Consultant, Sugar Association of the Caribbean and an Associate Fellow of the Institute of International Relations, UWI.

The other Commissioners are:
• Attorney-at-law, Patterson Keith Herman Cheltenham, QC of Barbados, who possesses extensive experience in Insurance, Administrative and Labour Laws as well as the Law of Trust. He has also had the benefit of specialised training in Taxation, Company Law and Insurance Law. Mr Cheltenham holds the Master of Laws and is a member of the Bars of Barbados, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

• Economist Dr. Trevor Michael Augustine Farrell of Trinidad and Tobago, who is also a business consultant and senior Lecturer in Economics at UWI, St Augustine. He holds a PhD in Economics and has more than 15 years experience as a consultant in various fields including agro-industry, airport management, banking, export development, public utilities, tourism, oil and gas and stock exchange operations.

• Mr. Hans Rudolf Lim A Po of Suriname, who is the Rector-Dean of the FHR Lim A Po Institute for Social Studies. His expertise includes economics, law, competition policy and practice, management and governance. He holds the Master of Laws degree from the University of Leyden in the Netherlands, and has lectured in law at the University of Suriname. Mr Lim A Po’s majors were Civil and Corporate Law and Corporate Finance.

• Economist Dr Maureen Paul of Dominica who holds a PhD in Economics from Warwick University and a Postgraduate certificate in Competition Policy. She is an Economic Advisor to the UK Office of Fair Trading working on competition policy in the UK and European Union markets. Dr Paul focuses on applied micro and macro-economics and in particular applied micro econometrics. She also specialises in transfer pricing and has managed several global transfer pricing projects involving multiple countries.

• Attorney-at-law Dr Barton Umax Adolphus Scotland of Guyana is in private practice in the areas of National Resources and Investment Law, Negotiations and International Law. He holds a Master of Laws degree and a PhD in International Law. Dr Scotland is a member of the Bars of Guyana, Barbados, St Kitts and Nevis and England and Wales.

• Attorney-at-Law Ambassador A.B. Stewart Stephenson of Jamaica who is the General Manager of the Factories Corporation of Jamaica. His fields of expertise are finance, law, competition policy and practice and international trade. Ambassador Stephenson holds both a BSc degree in Management Studies and an LLB from the University of the West Indies, and has been both Jamaica’s Consul General to Toronto and Ambassador to Cuba. He has also lectured on Securities at the Jamaican Institute of Management.

The Commissioners are appointed for a period of five years and their appointments may be renewed for a further period of up to five years.

The Commission, a key Institution in support of the CARICOM Single Market (CSME) and Economy, was established by Article 171 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and is responsible for enforcement of the Community Rules of Competition which in the main prohibit agreements, decisions, and concerted parties whose objective or effect is to frustrate competition and abuse a dominant position in the market.

Its main functions within the CSME are to apply the rules of competition, promote and protect competition, co-ordinate the implementation of Competition Policy, monitor anti-competitive business conduct, promote establishment of national Competition Institutions and harmonisation of Competition Law as well as to advise the Council for Trade and Economic Development on Competition and Consumer Protection policies.

CONTACT; piu@caricom.org

Competition Commision Inaugurated

2008-01-21T16:10:00.000-08:00

CCC to protect regional consumer and business interests
Published on Monday, January 21, 2008
Print Version

Source: Caribbean Net News Suriname

With an emphasis on consumer protection, fair trade and actions against anti-competition business conduct in the region, the CARICOM Competition Commission (CCC) was inaugurated in Suriname on Friday. The inauguration of the CCC marks a significant milestone on the road to fulfill the ambition of the region in creating a situation in which all the peoples of the Caribbean are able to enjoy the full benefits of the deepening of our integration movement, said Dr. Kusha Haraksingh, chairman of the newly established institution.

The headquarters of the CARICOM Competition Commission (CCC) which were inaugurated Friday in Paramaribo, Suriname.

According to Haraksingh, the region has been a crossover of various trading arrangements, where the benefits of “all these arrangements were not always indigenously claimed or locally enjoyed”. CARICOM, with the coming into being of the Single Market and Economy (CSME), will now embark on a trading regime where fairness stands at the center and where merit, efficiency and competitiveness will prevail.

Several officials who addressed the audience noted the importance of fair trade and proper business behaviour by companies in order for national economies and the region as a whole to realise welfare and economic growth. “Overall we aim to have more efficient and dynamic markets and stronger economies,” said Suriname's president, Dr Ronald Venetiaan.

The main objective of CARICOM’s competition policy is to ensure that the benefits expected from CSME are not marginalised by anti-competitive business conduct. Since the private sector has become increasingly important, said Venetiaan, governments in the region are doing their best to remove certain barriers and “other impediments to economic growth”.

However instruments are necessary to prevent or counter tendencies among businesses and enterprises such as cartels, price fixing, quantity limiting and bid rigging, Venetiaan warned. He also warned against abuse of dominant market position by established enterprises. “The CCC will ensure a level playing field for all players: big and small,” said the president. The commission further has to promote and sustain competition in the markets to ensure free trade and to protect the interests of consumers.

According to CARICOM secretary general Dr Edwin Carrington, the inauguration ceremony was a culmination of almost four years of planning, consultations and negotiations after Suriname in 2004 proposed to headquarter the CCC.

Envisioned as a vital institution within the CARICOM system, the CCC should particularly focus on “fostering efficiency in the market place” and also on education, active application of competition laws, dispute settlement among competitors and prevention of abuse of dominant positions by entrepreneurs. To perform these tasks, said Carrington, the Commission should therefore have powers to monitor the markets, initiate investigations and impose penalties if necessary.

The CCC will also contribute to the strengthening of national capabilities to develop due competition and consumer protection policies. “The future economic development of our community will be essentially market-driven and the CCC is not only necessary, but indispensable,” said the secretary general.

With Dr Haraksingh, Hans Lim A Po (Suriname), Patterson Keith Herman Cheltenham (Barbados), Trevor Michael Augustine Farrell (Trinidad and Tobago), Maureen Paul (Dominica), Barton Umax Adolphus Scotland (Guyana) and A. B. Stewart Stephenson (Jamaica) were sworn in as commissioners by Justice Michael de la Bastide, chairman of the Regional Judicial and Legal Service Commission and president of the Caribbean Court of Justice.

The Commission was established under Chapter Eight of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, including the Single Market and Economy, to promote economic efficiency, competition and protection of consumers.

Inauguration Ceremony CARICOM's Competition Commission

2008-01-15T09:05:00.000-08:00

Source: CARICOM Secretariat, Guyana

Jan. 14, 2008

Plans are well advanced for the Inauguration Ceremony of the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) Competition Commission, including the swearing in of the Commissioners, which takes place on Friday 19 January 2008 in Paramaribo, Suriname. The gala ceremony will be aired live via television throughout the Community and high level representatives are expected from the Member States of the Community.

The Commission is an integral part of the operations of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and is established under Article 171 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. The Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community agreed at its 10th Special Meeting of the Conference in November 2004 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago that the headquarters of the Commission would be in Suriname.

The need for the Commission arose out of the discussions among the framers of the Revised Treaty about the need for a Competition Policy to help regulate the operations of the CSME. This was to prevent attempts at preserving positions in national markets by frustrating competition both by national and non-national competitors, which could diminish the benefits expected from liberalisation and integration.

In order to avoid such occurrences, Chapter Eight of the Revised Treaty was negotiated to promote economic efficiency, competition and protection of consumers. The provisions of the chapter prohibit agreements, decisions and concerted practices and the abuse of dominant positions which are incompatible with the CSME. Although the Treaty provides for public and private monopolies, these are subject to the Rules on Competition.

The body set out in the Revised Treaty for enforcement of the Community Competition Rules is the Competition Commission. The seven-member Commission is appointed by the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission which will also appoint a Chairman from among the seven Commissioners. Their term of office is five years which can be renewed for a further period of not more than five years. Commissioners should, among other things, have expertise in commerce, finance, economics, law, competition policy and practice, international trade.

Translation of Official CARIFORUM Documents ( CRITI)

2008-01-15T08:58:00.000-08:00

Source: CARICOM Secretariat, Guyana

Jan. 14, 2008

Caricom.org

The Caribbean Regional Information and Translation Institute (CRITI) will be launched in Suriname on Thursday 17 January 2008.

At the launch, the President of Suriname, His Excellency Runaaldo Venetiaan and the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Forum of ACP States (CARIFORUM), His Excellency Edwin Carrington will sign an Headquarters Agreement. The President and the Secretary-General are also expected to unveil a plaque on the premises to be used for the headquarters of the Institute in Paramaribo.

In July 2005, the CARIFORUM Council of Ministers agreed to establish and locate CRITI in Suriname. CRITI will translate official documents and provide information for the CARIFORUM Member States, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States and the CARICOM Secretariat, other Regional Organisations and the private sector. CARIFORUM consists of the Member States of CARICOM plus the Dominican Republic and in its operations uses the official languages of all its Member States, English, French, Spanish and Dutch. Translation will, therefore, be provided into and out of these languages.

CRITI will facilitate official intra-CARIFORUM and intra-CARICOM communications at political and technical levels in the four (4) official languages of CARIFORUM. It will make the institutions of CARIFORUM and CARICOM, including the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), more accessible to all citizens of CARICOM regardless of language through the provision of translation services. It will bring the institutions, organisations and official proceedings of the region closer to its citizens by providing records of deliberations and decisions in their respective native languages.

This Institute is being established at a time when trade expansion and the movement of capital and services will require information and translation services to be provided to the private sector to facilitate trade, commerce and investments.

CRITI will also offer a translation and information service to professional bodies, and the general public on a cost recovery basis as part of its long term sustainability strategy.

Source: caricom.org

Together WI Swims

2007-12-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

Together WI swims, divided it sinks -Imperative to find a structure for regional governance in the Caribbean

By:Andy Johnson
Source: Trinidad Express
Sunday, December 9th 2007

GIVEN the length of time already spent on the consideration of regional governance in the caribbean, it is recommended that a decision on the subject be adopted with a sense of urgency. This is how a report prepared by a group called the Technical Working Group, dealing with the issue of Regional Governance in the Caribbean Community was concluded.

It was the first sentence in the final paragraph of the report dated October, 2006. It articulated the position further, to state that this sense of urgency was "especially so in the context of achieving the objectives envisaged in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas which remain central to the survival and prosperity of the region."

With Caricom leaders hurriedly meeting in the Guyanese capital, Georgetown this weekend against the urgency of the suffocating spirals in the cost of living of people from the Bahamas to Suriname, this issue of speeded up forms of governance comes back centre stage again.

Even as the region's leaders keep being propelled from one apparent or real crisis to the other, the question of what the Technical Working Group calls "Managing Mature Regionalism" keeps being deferred again and again.

"Options for Governance", is what this imperative got referred to as, after it was determined not to refer to it by any nomenclature that would, once again, raise the fears of governments and peoples in countries such as The Bahamas and Jamaica over anything that closely resembles "federation". When the matter came up again some five years ago at an intersessional meeting of Caricom heads in Port of Spain, it came out as "closer political union".

Following a flurry of meetings in the months immediately afterwards, the process was put in the hands of this Technical Working Group, with the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, holding lead responsibility for it. Former prime minister of St Lucia, Dr Vaughan Lewis, is chairman of the TWG. He has been for the last five years, a senior fellow at the Institute of International Affairs at the UWI, St Augustine.

"History and geography pre-dispose our nation states to combine," Dr Gonsalves told the Caricom summit in St Kitts in July 2006, three months before the completion of the report of the TWG. The leaders, he said, were "called to be apostles of a deeper, more perfect Caribbean union." There were harsh and compelling contemporary realities, he said, which were resident in the region's social economy, and their "unequal and constricting yoke to the international political economy, produce circumstances which induce us to a deeper, more profound integration."

The Georgetown summit, over a single day, was rushed on the basis of an alarm raised by the Prime Minister of Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique, Dr Keith Mitchell, over the impact of the rising cost of living of the region's peoples.

It came virtual days after a declaration by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago who, taking another oath of office two days after the last elections, said this devil called the cost of living was going to be a priority item for his new administration. It is also looks like being the primary issue number one in next year's Barbados elections.

And when they met in Georgetown two days ago, it would have been the second time the leaders would have got together on a matter of critical regional importance, since the regular annual summit in July. They would have met also for one day in Port of Spain in early September for the health summit following a damning report produced by another team of regional experts. It concerned an epidemic in non-communicable diseases, such as stroke and heart disease, diabetes, obesity and hypertension.

They are scheduled to meet again in the regular inter-sessional, in February or early March. Quite apart from, but essential to the urgent action required in addressing the health epidemic across the region is what the Commission on Health and Human Development said was the need for conclusion of the years of discussion on implementing a regional Health Insurance Scheme.

This has significant implications as part of the social infrastructure which must be put in place to supplement effective working of the Caricom Single Market and Economy, which itself has freedom of movement for workers and their families as its cornerstone. Arrangements for the E in the CSME to be put into effect, were scheduled to be completed sometime in the coming year.

No likelihood existed last week that there was going to be any discussion on this in Georgetown, or on an update from the September health summit, or even on the structural imperatives recommended by the TWG on the umbrella issue of "Managing Mature Regionalism".

As part of its conclusion, now under consideration for almost 14 months, the TWG report said that "the Caribbean stands at a critical juncture in its evolution which compels it to adopt a creative, yet pragmatic, system of regional governance." Such a system, it said, "must be capable of supporting the wide-ranging process of economic integration as envisaged in the CSME. At the same time, it must respond to global challenges impinging on prospects for national and regional development

"The decisions taken today in respect of the structure of governance therefore assume critical importance in determining the capacity of the region to deal with the plethora of multi-faceted challenges it will continue to face."

Such challenges indeed can be found in the means by which the region has been seeking to address the impact of regional economies of the so-named "Economic Partnership Agreements" governing international trade in the aftermath of the Lome Conventions, and the Cotonou Agreement and the Doha Round, which were both temporary replacements.

Independence and Integration

2007-11-02T04:42:00.000-07:00

Independence and regional integration process
Source: Searchlight Newspapar - SVG

Published 26.OCT.07

Tomorrow, October 27, 2007, the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, at home and in the diaspora, celebrate their 28th anniversary of the attainment of national independence. It has been almost three decades since the smaller islands in the Eastern Caribbean, stretching from Grenada in the south to St. Kitts/Nevis in the north, all took the bold step of joining the international community as independent nation states. This followed the fruitless search for Caribbean unity from the ill-fated West Indian Federation through the various permutations of regional nationhood right to independence as separate national entities.

Significantly, just two years after independence, SVG teamed up with its newly-independent neighbours to establish the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Beginning with a security and national disaster focus, the OECS itself has evolved to the point where it forms a tight inner concentric ring within the Caribbean Single Market, and the goal of full economic and political integration among these states is very much on the cards.

So how do these processes fit together? Is there any contradiction between the celebration of independent nationhood and the search for wider forms of unity? It is an undoubted fact of life that much has changed on the international stage since we took our first steps along the independence path, much of it to the detriment of mini-states like ours. The international trading climate and the pre-eminence of the “free trade” ideology have made it more and more difficult for small states to survive as “independent” entities. Even large, powerful nations today seek succour in larger trading and economic blocs.

The Caribbean, and the OECS in particular, has little choice in following this path. Fortunately for us, it blends well with our own historical and strategic realities, making it much easier to proceed along these lines. Yet, there are stumbling blocks, of our own creation, in our way. Among these are constitutional limitations and a false sense of petty nationalism, bringing with it blinkers and imagined barriers to political integration. These continue to hinder progress towards regional integration, even as the rest of the world moves in the opposite direction.

Take the European Union (EU) with whom we are negotiating a regional economic pact. In 1981 when the OECS was set up, there were but nine European states involved in the integration project. States such as Poland, Bulgaria and Romania were part of the Soviet bloc. Today, 27 of these developed nations sit on one side of the table negotiating with us, even as we argue among ourselves about so-called “illegal immigration” from sister Caribbean nations. Time and history are not on our side. As we revel in the achievements of national independence, let us reflect on how much further we can go and how much more we can achieve our goals of poverty eradication and sustainable development if we can get our integration process right.

Disseminating Information about the CSME

2007-11-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

Dissemintating the CSME

Source: NBC Radio - St. Vincent & the Grenadines

30/10/07

Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says that a more intense program needs to be developed to disseminate information about the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, CSME.

Dr. Gonsalves made the point while addressing Media Personnel at a session organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Trade and the CARICOM Secretariat this morning

Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves addressing Members of the Media at a session dubbed CSME Meet the Press this morning.

Meanwhile, Head of the CSME Unit Ivor Carryl has highlighted the importance of the integration efforts in the region.

He says efforts will be made to continue dialogue throughout the region on this issue

CARICOM Institutions Need to Collaborate

2007-10-31T02:59:00.000-07:00

CSME makes collaboration within Caricom most urgent
Monday October 29 2007
Source: Sun- St Kitts & Nevis

Caricom Secretary-General Edwin W. Carrington told the inaugural meeting of Heads of Caricom Institutions in Georgetown last Thursday that the need for a collaborative approach between all Community institutions has become more pressing with the launch of the Caricom Single Market (CSME) and the goal of establishing the framework for the Single Economy by 2008.

He added that the efficient functioning of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) in the dynamic global environment would require a more effective harnessing of the institutions and agencies of the Community.

The major objective of this first encounter of the Community’s institutions, therefore, must be a frank exchange of views on the broad vision for the Community and on the contribution that its institutions could make towards achieving that vision,” the secretary-general said.

The two-day meeting will examine issues of more efficient financing of Community institutions, and respective work programmes with a view to developing synergies, pursuing common goals and avoiding duplication.

The secretary-general expressed the hope that the “landmark event” would become a “biennial event and a forum for continuous dialogue and consequent concerted action.”

CSME Officials Uninformed

2007-10-24T02:25:00.000-07:00

Uninformed officials a problem for CSME office
Source: Nation - Barbados
Published on: 10/22/07.

HIGH INSURANCE PREMIUMS, high interest rates on loans and inadequate information on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) – due in part to uninformed public officials – are just some of the complaints reaching the CSME Unit's office for attention.

He also criticised some public officers whom he accused of often retarding the CSME process due to inadequate information on the subject.

"The CSME process is being frustrated by uninformed public sector officers who have inadequate information on the entire process," he said during an Association of Certified Chartered Accountants forum on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at Sherbourne Conference Centre on Friday.

In outlining what the Barbados-based unit would do to support SMEs, Forte cited discussions on a financial services agreement which would help facilitate information-trading on the creditworthiness of Caribbean entrepreneurs as they moved through the region.

"Without that arrangement it is possible that people with bad credit history could move cross-border and corrupt our financial sector," Forte warned.

Antigua & Barbuda Fiance Minister calls for more IMF Support

2007-10-24T02:17:00.000-07:00

CARICOM wants more support from IMF/World Bank

Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation - Barbados
Tuesday, 23 October 2007

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to pay closer attention to the needs of the region in respect of its ability to respond to its debt challenges.

Antigua and Barbuda's Finance and Economy Minister Dr Errol Cort, speaking on behalf of the region, said the international community had "a moral obligation to provide financing for adaptation and mitigation efforts in developing countries including Small Island Developing States".

Addressing the IMF/World Bank Board of Governors meeting, Cort said there was a need for specific interventions to address the issue of crime and violence in the Caribbean. "The Caribbean Community urges the Bank to rethink its approach to crime and violence and to recognise it as an urgent development issue.

"As a first step, the Bank could convene all the development partners to review the findings of the 2007 UN-World Bank study on Crime and Violence in the Caribbean and identify areas of partnership on the regional security plan."

Cort welcomed the region-wide research and outreach activities being undertaken by the IMF and the World Bank, especially in support of the full establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

He also stressed the role of the international financial institutions in assisting the Caribbean to reposition itself to thrive in the global economy is critical "We call on the Bank and the Fund to demonstrate a greater awareness of, and sensitivity to, the significant debt challenges facing many Caribbean countries, primarily precipitated by the vulnerabilities associated with small island economies. "In this regard, we encourage the Bank to be more creative in developing instruments to specifically assist middle income countries that do not qualify for IDA funding, but continue to experience significant development challenges as a result of their high debt overhang," he added. Cort also stressed the Caribbean region's strong support for the operationalisation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Adaptation Fund.

CARICOM Office in Haiti

2007-10-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

Caricom office to re-open in Haiti

Source: Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation - Barbados

Friday, 19 October 2007

President René Préval is expected to deliver the feature address at the re-opening of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Representational Office in Haiti on Friday, according to a CARICOM statement issued here.

It said that the ceremony will take place at the new office in the heart of the capital, Port au Prince and that the Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance of Barbados Senator Tyrone Barker will represent Prime Minister Owen Arthur, the present CARICOM Chairman.

CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington and Dennis Robert, who is representing the Ambassador of Canada to Haiti, will also address the function. "The CARICOM Representational Office (CRO) is being re-opened with the support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), three years after it was closed following the interruption of democratic governance in 2004," the CARICOM statement said. "The office was then located in the Embassy of The Bahamas and had been established at that time with the support of the government of the Kingdom of Norway.

The statement said that Ambassador Earl Huntley, a St. Lucian diplomat and administrator with wide experience, will be in charge of the CRO. CARICOM said that the CRO is being established to facilitate more speedily the integration of Haiti into the regional integration grouping "with particular emphasis on the Single Market and Economy; identify and mobilise domestic, financial and other resources; promote relations with the media; and undertake public education programmes".

"The ratification by the Haitian Parliament of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas including the Single Market and the Economy and the re-opening of the Representational Office within two weeks of each other augur well for the quickening of the pace of the fuller integration of Haiti into CARICOM," Carrington said.

Deputy Secretary-General of CARICOM, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite, said that CIDA's assistance regarding the CRO is part of the wider CARICOM Trade and Competitiveness Project.

"Among the goals of the project is to assist Haiti to prepare itself for full participation in the CSME. This is being done within the context of the wider goal to provide more and better opportunities for the people of CARICOM to participate in and benefit from the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

"It also should enable all CARICOM citizens to understand, participate and actively engage in economic activities," she added. CMC

Implementation of Article 164 of Revised Treaty

2007-10-19T05:33:00.000-07:00

Regional officials meet to discuss sensitive industries in the CSME
Source: Caribbean Net News

Published on Friday, October 19, 2007
Print Version
CASTRIES, St Lucia

The sensitive industries of the less developed countries (LDCs) within the CARICOM region, will top the agenda of a meeting of Trade and Private Sector Officials from these territories, when they meet in Saint Lucia on October 22-23.

The meeting, which is being hosted by the OECS Secretariat in collaboration with the CARICOM Secretariat, will focus specifically on Industries approved for Article 164 treatment under the revised Treaty of Chaguramas.

This article allows the LDCs of CARICOM, including Belize and Haiti, to submit a collective request to the CARICOM Council on Trade and Economic Development (COTED), to suspend as a “temporary measure” preferential treatment usually granted to products of other CARICOM member states, in order to promote the development of a specific sensitive industry in the LDCs. The two day meeting will examine the overall implementation of Article 164. This will include a review of the procedures for granting Article 164 treatment, the current criteria for determining the products and industries which qualify for such treatment, the types of measures which can be used to implement Article 164, as well a common system for monitoring and evaluation of the programme.

The government of Belize is expected to make a presentation on the category of industries currently approved by the COTED for Article 164 treatment. Belize will also put forward its proposal for broadening the criteria as well as the industries which currently qualify for Article 164 treatment. An OECS official explains Article 164 as very important to the operation and functioning of LDCs within the CARICOM Single Market.

“It not only operates as a special and differential treatment mechanism for OECS member states, Haiti and Belize, but more significantly ensures that certain industries that are deemed important for the industrial development of these countries are given temporary preferential treatment within the Community."

The official says the continued implementation of this provision is critical to facilitating the operation of the LDC’s productive sectors and their adjustment to competition in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. At the end of the two day meeting trade and private sector officials expect to agree on a plan of action that addresses and provides common principles, standards and solutions to the major implementation issues regarding Article 164.

Once finalised, some concrete proposals on how Article 164 should be preserved and extended will be tabled to the next meeting of the Council of Trade and Economic Development. This meeting is scheduled for November of this year.

Regional System of Vocational Qualifications

2007-10-19T01:38:00.000-07:00

Caribbean Vocational Qualification to be Launched in Jamaica

Caribbean PressReleases.com - Christ Church,Barbados

Press Release from : CARICOM, Guyana

Oct. 18, 2007

Arrangements for the issue of the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) have been streamlined and the first launch by a National Training Agency is expected to take place in Jamaica by the HEART Trust/NTA on Friday, 19 October at 10:00 am at the Terra Nova Hotel.

The CVQ will facilitate the movement of artisans and other skilled persons in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). This qualification will be accessible to persons already in the workforce as well as students in secondary schools across the Caribbean Region. Those already in the work force will be required to attend designated centres for assessment.

The Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies (CANTA) has been streamlining arrangements for the issue of the CVQ in post-secondary institutions and workplaces over the past year. In addition, arrangements have been put in place with the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) for the award of the CVQ to students in secondary schools, as mandated by the Fifteenth Meeting of the CARICOM Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD-XV).

Speaking at the Sixteenth Meeting of the COHSOD held in Georgetown, Guyana on 10 -12 October 2007, CARICOM Secretary-General, H.E. Edwin W. Carrington said, “this development will facilitate the movement of a large number of wage earners in the CSME and is one which our Heads of Government have eagerly awaited.”

In explaining the rationale for the introduction of the CVQ, Ms. Myrna Bernard, Director of Human and Social Development in the CARICOM Secretariat said, “One of the main pillars of the CSME is the free movement of skilled persons throughout the Region.”

She explained that, “the issues of skill development through Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and the portability of qualifications, have assumed renewed importance in positioning the Region for competitive participation in the New Economy.”

“It is recognised that in order to achieve this, there must be a common system and understanding of quality assurance issues at all levels of Education and Training, including TVET,” Ms. Bernard clarified further.

Ms. Bernard added that “the institutionalisation of a regional system of Vocational Qualifications is a crucial element in facilitating the free movement of workers while also contributing to the enhancement of skills training in both institutional as well as on-the job settings.”

In response to a mandate from COHSOD XI in October 2004, CANTA reached an agreement on, and documented a Regional Process for Workforce Training, Assessment and Certification leading to the award of the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ). The Report was presented to COHSOD XV in October 2006.

Contact: piu@caricom.org

CARICOM Skilled National Ammendment Act Debate - Antigua & Barbuda

2007-10-17T01:30:00.000-07:00

CSME consultants hold talks in Antigua

Source: AntiguaSun - St' John's,Antigua and Barbuda

Published: October 17, 2007

Consultations with stakeholders on the scope of the Caricom Single Market (CSM) as it relates to the fulfilment of Antigua and Barbuda’s obligations began yesterday at the Multi-purpose Cultural and Exhibition Centre.

The Industry and Commerce Division of the Ministry of Finance and Economy in collaboration with the Caricom Secretariat is hosting the three-day Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME ) Country Mission.

These consultations come at a time when the government is preparing to fully implement the CSME by next year.

CSME will also be one of the issues of discussion this Wednesday when the House of Representatives meet to debate the Caribbean Community Skilled National Amendment Act 2007.

Thelma Joseph, operations manager of the CSME based in Barbados said that each member state must harmonise everything across the region to avoid people from becoming frustrated when they try to travel and work within the common economic space.

According to her, the government of Antigua and Barbuda has demonstrated its commitment to CSME and the broader process of regional integration.

“It has maintained active participation at all levels including focal points while participating in CSME related meetings,” Joseph said.

“Therefore we all have the responsibility for guiding the implementation of CSME and ensuring its enabling environment.”

Joseph said that one of the roles of public sector officials is to help to facilitate that movement and to ensure that everything is place to allow the CSME to function. She said that the government of Antigua and Barbuda has declared full compliance with most of its legal obligations required to operate the single market.

The Caricom Single Market (CSM) is already in place in Antigua and Barbuda as well as the other member states of Caricom.For Antigua and Barbuda, there are still some outstanding areas that need to be implemented especially for the free movement of skills individuals.

“CSME is not an event, CSME is in a state of evolution, it is a process that will take time, and it calls for changes in attitudes and mind sets,” Joseph said.

Steven Mac Andrew, specialist on movement of skills and labour said that Antigua and Barbuda had fully implemented the free movement of graduates, artistes, media workers, sportsmen and musicians in January 2002 but subsequently it was discovered that there was a flaw in the law. There was need for the country to introduce the necessary law in order to implement the free movement of skills nationals in Antigua and Barbuda.

“My understanding that the act has its first reading and that it is on the agenda for the sitting of Parliament coming Wednesday,” Mac Andrew said.

US$ Slide - Cause for Concern

2007-10-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

US dollar 'a cause for concern'
Source: The Nation Newspaper - Bridgetown,St. Michael,Barbados
Published : October 15, 2007

THE AMERICAN DOLLAR'S slide against major currencies has serious implications for Barbados.

The caution has come from Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) chairman Ben Arrindell, who said although mergers and acquisitions may be the issues most talked about, the United States dollar's performance was just as important.

He told Barbados Business Authority that as the US dollar depreciates in relation to the pound sterling and the euro, prices continue to rise for local businesses that import goods from countries outside the US.

Speaking during a break in the opening session of the Public/Private Sector Consultation on Economic and Related Issues on Friday, Arrindell noted that even when companies purchased goods directly from the US, costs might still be high because American suppliers may buy their raw materials from other countries.

He said that these challenges were not impossible to face since the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) would be the ideal platform from which to fight these challenges.

"There is strength in moving forward as a region," he said, noting that CSME would enhance member territories' economies of scale.

No timetable for CARICOM Passport in Jamaica

2007-10-15T02:50:00.000-07:00

Caribbean Community passport deadline derailed

published: Sunday October 14, 2007

Source Jamaica Gleaner

Jamaica's deadline to introduce the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) passports by year end has been derailed, and no timetable has been set regarding when the country will join other member states in implementing the passport regime.

The introduction of the regional travel document should have taken place earlier this year, but was postponed because of preparations for Cricket World Cup, which the region hosted.

In a previous interview, Robert Miller, head of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had said the new documents would have come into effect by December 31.

But this will not be so, according to Gilbert Scott, permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security, which has responsibility for the Passport Office.

"A new passport is the least of my priorities right now," Scott tells The Sunday Gleaner when pressed as to why the date was no longer feasible. "I have other important things to deal with."
He, however, noted that while, Jamaica was committed to meeting its regional obligations, the matter of the regional passport was not at the top of the ministry's agenda.

"Our primary interest here is the security of our borders and the security of travel documents," states Scott. "The CARICOM passport in of itself does not guarantee or enhance the security of the document and our concern right now is to move to a more secure document, and that takes time and research," he adds.

Regionalism

The CARICOM passport is a document, which is being issued in accordance with an agreed format for intra-regional and extra-regional travel.

Heads of government agreed to the issuance of this passport by member countries as a symbol of regionalism. The introduction of the CARICOM passport is also one of the measures to promote hassle-free travel for CARICOM nationals.

Suriname was the first country to issue the CARICOM passport on January 7, 2005, followed by St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts later that year.

Jamaica / Guyana Rice Issue Resolved

2007-10-14T03:28:00.000-07:00

Rice tiff with Jamaica thrashed out
Source: Starbroek News
Saturday, October 13th 2007

Jamaica is to continue to import rice from Guyana and officials from the island nation have no intention of importing extra regional rice at the expense of CARICOM and Guyana supplies.

This is according to a press release from the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday. The decision came after a meeting between officials of Guyana and Jamaica on Thursday after a tiff between the two countries over the importation of rice and Jamaica expressing the intention of importing from the United States.

The two countries have argued about rice in the past, with Jamaican officials accusing suppliers in Guyana of reducing sales to regular markets on finding higher prices elsewhere. Persaud had vowed to resort to CARICOM to block Jamaica's bid to import rice from the United States.

On Thursday, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud and Karl Samuda, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Investment in Jamaica and Michael Stern, Minister of State within the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Investment of Jamaica held a meeting to discuss the state of the Guyana-Jamaica rice export trade and in response to an earlier announcement by Minister Samuda that rice would be imported into Jamaica from Louisiana, USA.

"Minister Samuda after discussions reported that the information that was presented by Minister Persaud was contrary to what was communicated to him," the release said.

The release said that Samuda also confirmed that the supply of rice from Guyana to Jamaica in 2007 was in excess of the 2006 amount. It said that the increase in demand for Guyana's rice was due to a number of factors including the drop in the import level of paddy from the US to be milled in Jamaica.

The Minister welcomed the Jamaican Government's understanding of the position of Guyana; its strong commitment to buying rice from Guyana and not importing rice from outside of the region including the United States.

The release said that the two ministers agreed to improve the lines of communication through regular reports from both sides to avoid miscommunication.

Minister Persaud also communicated that there are rice producers in Guyana who are interested in joint venture arrangements with the Jamaican investors which would assist in the securing of supplies for a growing market for Guyana's rice in Jamaica and to promote value-added activities in Guyana, the release said.

Minister Stern will be visiting Guyana next week to familiarize himself with the rice industry in Guyana.

Minister Persaud said that the Jamaican market was a valuable one and Guyana is poised to increase its market share. Already, Guyana has supplied 25 per cent more rice to Jamaica for 2007 compared with the corresponding period for 2005 and 2006.

He stated that the projected production for the second crop is approximately 141,000 tonnes and that there will be enough rice to meet market commitments. The projected distribution is as follows: export to EU - 40,000 tonnes; local consumption - 30,000; feed - 10,000; available to CARICOM - 60,000.

The release said that both Ministers on Thursday met with importers of rice, where they held candid discussions on some challenges facing the Guyana-Jamaica rice trade and a number of recommendations were put forward in terms of trading arrangements.

According to the release, Persaud gave the assurance that the kinks in trading arrangements will be addressed and directed the General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) to follow up these issues so that they can be resolved early.

Globalization and CSME - Mergers inevitable

2007-10-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

Mergers for survival

Nation News - Bridgetown,St. Michael,Barbados

Published on: 10/13/07

THERE'S ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with company acquisitions or mergers.

In fact, president of the Barbados Private Sector, Ben Arrindell, thinks it's the way to go forward as Barbados continues to battle in a globalised business environment.

"These are acceptable, and very often, necessary processes for stimulating growth in a business and, if properly planned and executed, can be of benefit to shareholders, employees and customers," Arrindell told the opening session of the 8th Annual Private/Public Sector Consultation with Government at Sherbourne Conference Centre yesterday.

The private sector chief noted that the theme of the consultation, Safeguarding The Future; Engendering Global Resilience, had major relevance for Barbados.

He noted that in the face of globalisation and the pending competition from regional and international companies, Barbadian businesses had two options.

"They can continue as is, and try to compete directly with a larger competitor that may have advantage of economies of greater scale and financial resources, or they could grow their businesses through mergers and acquisitions, or entering into joint venture arrangements with other local or regional companies in order to become large and financially strong enough to be able to compete effectively.

"The reality is that with globalisation and the creation of the CSME, mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures are inevitable," Arrindell concluded.

And he noted that in some cases such a move could be the only means available to achieve sustainable growth in businesses.

"I am a firm believer that more of our businesses, large, small, and medium-sized, need to embrace joint venturing as a way to take their business to the next level."

Proper regulations

But the professional accountant warned that a proper regulatory environment would have to be created to ensure that activities took place in a manner that was fair and transparent, and protected the rights of shareholders, employees, and consumers.

Regarding the private sector, Arrindell said his body was still very concerned with many Barbadian products, which were export ready, still not meeting European Union standards.

"We urge the Government to speedily put the necessary framework in place," he added.

Regarding the country's social partnership, he said it needed to be made more effective, and to be rejuvenated so as to continue going forward.

Book on Investing in CARICOM

2007-10-13T06:18:00.000-07:00

New attempt to guide Caribbean business investments

Source: Caribbean 360.com
LONDON, England, October 12, 2007

A new book intends to be a comprehensive guide towards investment in the Caribbean

A new publication guiding investors through the maze of business opportunities in the Caribbean has been launched in London.

Published CaribInvest (West Indies) Ltd it focuses on the newly implemented Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) explaining what that means in real terms to the businessman, government, the traveller, and service providers.

The company has also announced a companion trade and consumer exposition.

Speaking at the official launch at the Barbados High Commission in London this week, Prof Bishodat Persaud, a Caribbean academic and international development specialist said the book had a "sense of completeness".

"It is soundly written and not just promotion oriented or gimmicky...... [an] effort to put the Caribbean on the world's business map."

He saw the publication as a "projection of the Caribbean", saying there was a need for many more such works."We do need more projections, especially because we are small and have difficulty getting the attention of international investors".

Trade show

CaribInvest also announced its intention to convene a trade and consumer show - CaribbeanExpo 2008 - in London.

Divided into five sections, the publication provides a comprehensive overview of the Caribbean.
Section one provides an overview of the Caribbean, its location, its people and cultural heritage as well as the regional governance structure.

Section two provides the answer to the question: Why the Caribbean? A range of factors are touched upon including the region's environmental resource base, its geographical location, accessibility etc.

Section three is aimed specifically at the potential visitor. It offers a sample of the uniqueness of the region and what makes the Caribbean a truly unique destination. It also provides information which could be valuable in the design of joint marketing strategies for the Caribbean tourism product.

Section four identifies some of the possible investment opportunities which exist in the region and for which investment capital is being sought.

The final section provides a brief overview of the macro-operational framework for investment in the Caribbean.

The Appendices provide valuable information which will be of use to both the traveller and the potential investor, alike.

The book goes on sale at the end of October 2007 in Europe for £20.00 plus postage and elsewhere for US$40.00 plus postage.

Respect border Ruling

2007-10-11T05:03:00.000-07:00

CCL urges Guyana, Suriname to respect border ruling

Rickey Singh
Source: Jamaica Observer
Thursday, October 11, 2007

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) is urging both Suriname and Guyana to abide by the ruling of an international tribunal on delimitation of their maritime boundaries and to avoid any unpleasant developments.

The regional umbrella body of some 30 trade union affiliates across the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries, was reacting to last month's unanimous award of an International Law of the Sea Tribunal that substantially favoured the case presented by Guyana.

But Suriname's questioning of the tribunal's judgement led Guyana last week to formally submit the entire text to the United Nations Security Council in order, it said, to avoid "misrepresentations" that could have unnecessary negative consequences.

The CCL, which maintains an operational secretariat in Barbados, welcomed the tribunal's ruling as "an achievement for the rule of law". It expressed the hope that the judgement contributes to "good neighbourly relations", noting that the workers of both countries "have always shared cordial and close relationships".

Consequently, the CCL has also urged workers' support in encouraging "respect for the procedures and adherence to the international rule of law" to discourage "triumphalism and agitation as being counter-productive....

"Especially at this time," it added, "when several countries of Caricom have signed onto the principles of free movement of goods, services and skills in pursuit of a CSME."

Jamaica / Guyana Rice Issue

2007-10-10T04:36:00.000-07:00

Rice dispute with Jamaica can be resolved, says Guyana's president
Published on Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Source: Caribbean Net News
Print Version

The issue of Jamaica deciding to import rice from the United States on the basis that Guyana is unable to meet its supply, can be resolved simply, according to Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo. “I think that the rice matter could easily be sorted out. I get the impression that Jamaica will respect CARICOM arrangements; they (Jamaica) said they asked around here before they took the decision to import there (US). We have some differences in views on that because on our side they are saying that they have the ability to supply the Jamaican market,” Jagdeo said. Jagdeo said Guyana must ensure that the new government of Jamaica understands the system.

“I thought that we had a settled mechanism, but with a new government, we need to ensure that they understand that the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) should be approached and should say whether there is enough rice to supply the market or whether we cannot supply at that point in time and therefore, we would offer the waiver,” Jagdeo said. Guyana is hopeful that it will be able to export 10,000 tonnes more of rice than last year. “Last year we exported something like 43,700 tonnes of rice to Jamaica. This year we are hoping to export 54,000 tonnes to Jamaica. So we will be 10.000 tonnes above of what we exported last year.

Price varies a bit but it’s an important issue and I think that there is enough goodwill in Jamaica to have this resolved at the level of our Ministers and officials.

Jamaica is an important market for Guyana,” Jagdeo emphasised. Guyana supplies about 50, 000 tonnes of rice to Jamaica while the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has granted Jamaica a waiver for the importation of 65, 000 tonnes of paddy to be milled in the country. This amounts to approximately 45, 000 tonnes of rice, which when combined with the amount exported from Guyana, totals about 80,000 tonnes