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…
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.”
A speech proclaiming that the signing of the EPA is “The Dawn of a New Era’ reveals several of the key flaws in the Agreement..
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…
The Resolution of 5 February 2009 states that EPAs should incorporate a 5-year revision clause and stronger monitoring and evaluation provisions.
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
