Presentation at Rotary World Understanding Day Dinner, Guyana, February 27, 2009
The response of the Caribbean to the enormous challenge with which it is confronted as a result of the dangerous instability in the global economy will very much determine whether that outcome becomes the region’s destiny…
The way EPA has been conceived is likely to bring more losses than gains for Africa. The gains are not much, as the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), can avail of the Everything But Arms (EBA) preferential scheme of the EU. And the value of the preferences African countries will reap from an EPA will essentially become nil in about 5 to 10 years. It is of vital importance for developing and the least developed countries, that the options for industrialisation for future generations are not foreclosed. ..
I must confess to being conflicted by the news that Schengen visa requirements are soon to be lifted for four Caricom countries.. Like many others who have had to apply for a Schengen visa for even the shortest of visits, I find the procedures onerous, intrusive and demeaning. So I cannot but be happy for those citizens of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados and St. Kitts and Nevis who will henceforth not be required to endure them if they wish to travel to Schengen zone countries.
One the other hand, I wonder whether the measure is not a further step towards the establishment of of first and second class citizens, and even of first and second class countries, within Caricom…
Also in Stabroek News, June 1, 2009
Reginald Dumas has written a fascinating, highly readable, well documented account of his experience as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Adviser on Haiti, in the period immediately following President Aristide’s resignation from power, which was disingenuously described as ‘voluntary’ by certain foreign interests.. His penetrating insight into the dynamics of big power, small country, and international organization politics illuminated his observations and analysis throughout the book…
Excerpt from a forthcoming book: “A First Look at the Political Economy of North South Partnership Agreements: The CARIFORUM-EC, EPA.”
On the formal signing of the EPA, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Business of Barbados proclaimed it to be “The Dawn of a New Era’. From my perspective as one of the critics of the EPA, the speech …perhaps unintendedly, reveals several of the key flaws in the Agreement and calls into question the wisdom of the decision by CARICOM’s political leadership to proceed with its signing in the present form…..
Conservative and Liberal Euro MPs were today accused of ganging up on some of the poorest countries in the world to force through controversial trade deals that would open their economies up to EU exports…
Resolution of 5 February 2009–highlights
“11. Stresses that EPAs agreements should incorporate a revision clause for a revision 5 years after their signature, to which national parliaments, the European Parliament and civil society must be formally associated; stresses also that this period will enable a detailed evaluation of the impact of EPAs on the economies and regional integration of the ACP countries and appropriate reorientations to be carried out”;
14. “Underscores the need for stronger monitoring and evaluation provisions in the EPAs which will determine the impact of the EPA on country and regional development and poverty reduction objectives, not merely EPA compliance levels;
17. “Urges the Commission in partnership with the ACP countries to include development benchmarks in the EPA and interim EPAs to measure the socio-economic impact of the EPAs on key sectors, to be determined according to the priorities and for intervals decided by each region”;
For the full text of the Resolution, click here
On Friday last, the Chapel on the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) opened its doors to celebrate the life of Dr. Lucille Mathurin-Mair, who died at the age of 85 on January 28th. After searching online, I had to conclude that with the – obvious – exception of Jamaica, there was little or no column space in other Caribbean newspapers dedicated to this story, a silence that underlines both the necessity as well as the regrettable failure of national media today in promoting a genuine regional consciousness….More
“Free Trade” Agreements Contibute to Financial and Other Crises, SOMO Network
While the financial crisis and its consequences spreads around the world and even the most erstwhile ‘free market’ governments discuss how to re-regulate the financial sector, ‘free trade’ agreements continue the extreme deregulation of the financial industry. Terms of these agreements prohibit countries from reforming their financial sector so as to remedy the financial, economic, environmental, food and social crises now growing, and to ensure finance is directed to the transformation into sustainable societies…
Why was the CL Financial debacle allowed to happen? The answer seems to take us to the heart of governance in small countries, where a single large firm can wield enormous economic and political influence…
A series of twelve excellent articles on the collapse of the CL conglomerate, the intervention of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and the issues raised.
Postscript Govt left empty-handed in CL Financial bail-out: all of CLICO’s assets committed 7/04/09
$315M Rescue: TT Govt digs deeper to bail out CL companies in the Caribbean 21/04/09
Time to take control of CL Financial William Lucie-Smith 20/05/09
