PM Douglas: Trinidad will not receive oil benefits from OECS union
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
 |
|
Hon. Dr Denzil Douglas
|
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE proposed economic and political union between the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Trinidad & Tobago (T&) will not present a dilemma to those countries currently importing oil from Venezuela via the Petrocaribe Agreement, St. Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas said last week.
The Eastern Caribbean has benefited greatly under the subsidies provided by Petrocaribe, and some economists have objected to a potential economic partnership between the OECS and T&T because of fears that the Petrocaribe would be abandoned for a preferential arrangement with the oil producing twin-island Republic.
“Let me say this, the PetroCaribe Agreement, which brings fuel from an external source into the union, had to meet the approval of Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago could have insisted that the appropriate tariffs be applied to the petrol.
“If that had happened, the price of fuel would be beyond what we are now getting it at,” Douglas said at his monthly press conference, which followed a recent meeting of the OECS Heads and T&T to discuss the union.
Douglas admitted that for every US dollar the price of oil falls on the world market since the signing of the Petrocaribe, T&T loses as much as TT$50M. Despite this astronomical loss of profits, the PM said T&T would survive through other arrangements, such as a partnership with the OECS.
“Trinidad has indeed lost its market. It is no longer selling petroleum products to the Caribbean, but Trinidad has stood up. She has lost, but I think Trinidad is staying the course with [the OECS] because we are her greatest trading partner-apart from the United States of America.” ~~Adz:Right~~
The sector of manufactured goods would be where Trinidad stands to benefit from a potential union, Douglas said, noting that a large percentage of St. Kitts-Nevis’ imported goods come from her neighbour to the south.
The potential union was also questioned by reporters on the grounds that it would be a “distraction” from greater CARICOM integration.
“I was one of those that was very careful regarding the Trinidad and OECS initiative; I don’t want fragmentation,” Douglas said, before adding that, “It is better if we show with our little entity that it can be done. I will seek support for [the union with T&T] because I think it can achieve faster what we want to achieve regionally in CARICOM.”
The PM further cited the success within the OECS (i.e. common court, a strong single currency, Eastern Caribbean Stock Exchange) as examples of how smaller economic and political unions can serve as an example of flourishing integration to the wider Caribbean.
