Independence and Integration

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.