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| St. Kitts and Nevis' Prime Minister and Incoming Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas (l) discussing the upcoming Heads of Government Conference with Secretary General, His Excellency Dr. Edwin Carrington last week, who was in St. Kitts to attend celebrations to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Treaty of Basseterre |
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JUNE 29TH 2006- St. Kitts and Nevis' Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas takes over the chairmanship of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) from July 1st 2006.
Secretary General at the CARICOM Secretariat, His Excellency Dr. Edwin Carrington has been speaking about the several issues which the regional leaders will tackle during the July 3 to 6th Meeting at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort.
He said it was a very important meeting and some very weighty matters will be coming before the Heads.
"Perhaps two of the most important will be the completion of the Single Market. As you know on the 30th January, we had a function in Jamaica marking the commencement of the Single Market process were six member states entered that process. Well, the other six are expected to do so here in St. Kitts and Nevis.
This is a very important new stage of Single Market and Economy, whereas before most of our integration efforts as far as Trade for example and production is concerned and the movement of goods, well that remains as is," Carrington told National Echo in an interview while he was in Basseterre to attend celebrations to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Signing of the Treaty of Basseterre.
Dr. Carrington said what is now new is going to the free movement of capital, the free movement of skilled labour, the right to establish businesses across the Community, from a national of the Community from any country and be treated as a national of that country.
"So it's a completely new ballgame as it regards to that. Provision of services, that was something that was not provided in the old treaty, we're now going into that stage so that the dentist, lawyer, can come here, go to St. Vincent and the Grenadines can go there and establish, can go to Trinidad, can go to Guyana and establish an enterprise. So we have now gone to a higher level of the integration process. In fact, the only grouping in the world that has gone this level and beyond is the European Union," said Carrington.
He said another issue of importance on the Summit's agenda is the "symbolic and substantive return of Haiti to the Community Council."
~~Adz:Right~~The newly elected Haitian President, His Excellency Rene Preval, is expected to be here to take part in the Councils, a position from which Haiti was suspended since the 2004 ouster of former President Jean Bertrand-Aristide.
Carrington, who left St. Kitts to travel to Haiti to brief the new leader of the world's poorest nation in the western hemisphere on the upcoming Summit is of the view that the Single Market is but a way station towards the Single Economy which is one step.
"There would be some important discussions here on moving toward the Single Economy. For many of the countries, the Single Economy is perhaps more important than just the Single Market," said Dr. Carrington.
"Let me add a point here, there are many who are saying "well what would the Single Market and Single Economy hold for the smaller countries. Well, just look at this.
If you have a system where goods are the main product and goods impact us in trade, and therefore the economies that are mainly goods-oriented like Guyana, Trinidad; they have a chance in that early stage. When you move to services, the OECS countries for example are predominantly services driven, and therefore we are bring on board now an area of economic activity in which they have comparative advantage, which is the dominant aspect of the economies like financial services, tourism services, distributory services. So what we are saying, is that the nature of the progress in the integration movement, can in fact help to make the benefits more equitable in the integration process. But there are certain mechanisms that have been put in place to make sure that this is so," said Carrington.
He said the Regional Development Fund which provides US$120 million by the member states of CARICOM and US$130 million hopefully to be obtained by donors, is now settled as regard the contribution formula at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Douglas in Barbados on 9th June.
"Now that mechanism is geared towards dealing with the problems of disadvantage countries, regions and sectors. All the LDC's, including the OECS countries have been defined as disadvantage countries, so they have automatic access to the resources," said the CARICOM Secretary General, who pointed out that it is possible that countries like Guyana, Trinidad or Jamaica can also be eligible.
"If there is a sector that is particularly disadvantaged in Jamaica, and let us assume that the banana sector has been significantly damaged by the recent European decision on banana, there may be eligibility for access for resources for the banana sector, but not normally across the board. St. Vincent and all the LDC's would be eligible for resources across the board. So that matter is to be discussed and finalised, because there is a particular point that is remaining that only heads can decide," said Dr. Carrington.
"When we took the formula that came about after four meetings and we ended up with the various contributory pieces, there was $9.66 million short of the $100 million we were trying to find. We had already had $20 million out of the Petroleum Fund which Trinidad and Tobago had provided. We ended up short of the US$100 million and it was agreed to recommend to the Heads that that US$9.66 million be taken out of the Petroleum Fund will still have resources and balance towards completing the hundred million. That is being settled here in here in St. Kitts and Nevis,"said the region" senior civil servant.
On the question of free movement of skills, Dr. Carrington said it is a very important aspect of the Single Market and Economy.
"Now the treaty starts with about five different categories: university graduates, media workers, sportsmen and women, musician and artists, but the decision now is to consider enlarging the category to include people with other kinds of skills such as mason, carpenters and others who may not be in a level of graduate in terms of a university graduate, but who have skills that are critical," explained Carrington.
He added: "Indeed the question of including the domestic servants have been considered as a category, if you want to expand. There have been serious discussions here on how far down we go. On the one hand, one wants to expand it to as many categories as possible and on the other hand, one has to be sensitive to the various individual markets."
Expressing the concerns of the region's nationals, the CARICOM Secretary General noted the apprehension.
"People are concerned about this free movement, saying what will happen to my job here at home. Will I be in danger from others coming in, sometimes forgetting that you could also go to their market and trade. These matters have to be discussed and a balanced position arrived at. That would be on the agenda here," said Carrington, who noted that all the above matters can pale into insignificance, "if we do not have an environment in which people feel safe and secure both personally and investment wise."
"Therefore crime and security which is a serious problem across the region, in just about every country will be on the agenda and will be discussed," he disclosed.
According to Dr. Carrington, the Caribbean leaders at their meeting in St. Lucia last year agreed on a new plan for dealing with crime and security in the region and that structure is being implemented now.
"One of the things that we will be doing here in St. Kitts is stock taking as to those countries that have not implemented certain aspects of that decision, what is holding them back and what assistance they need to do that," said Carrington.
The CARICOM Chief said crime and security assumes a certain urgency, because it is going to affect next year's Cricket World Cup. " Now when the thousands descend in this region for Cricket World Cup, we have to have mechanisms to facilitate easy movement, but at the same time, we do not want to sacrifice our security situation. So how you balance these two objectives or facilitate the easy movement of one place to the other, one country to the other, and at the same time not sacrificing the situation of the countries," said Carrington.
He said one of the mechanisms is the use of a swipe card which will reduce the long immigration lines. "It's a big challenge, but at the same time it is one which we have to try and master."
Human Resource Development, Health and HIV/AIDS are also on the agenda. "Just as I talked about security being important, if we do not have developed human resources and we do not have healthy human resources, there is a reduced quality of life," said Carrington, who noted that the health issues are being spearheaded by the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis.
He said a very important aspects of a report by Sir George Alleyne, who headed the Commission on Health and Development that will be discussed here. "We have found out that while we spend a lot of time on HIV/AIDS which is critical, the life style diseases are taking over. The diabetes, the hypertensions, so that many people are falling, not because of AIDS or HIV, but because of these lifestyle diseases. We cannot ignore them and so they have to be discussed here," said Dr. Carrington.
"We also have some hard decisions to take on matters such as sugar and bananas.
The EU trading arrangements which we had now over the years, have been changed to our disadvantage. Banana has been on the chopping block for a long time and sugar is now out there. We have been pressing for certain support and St. Kitts and Nevis is perhaps the most dramatic case in that after 350 years of having a sugar industry and because of these decisions you have had to close," said Carrington, noting that Prime Minister Douglas last March led a CARICOM mission to Europe trying to make sure that the European assistance and resources are augmented and frontloaded.
Asked why St. Kitts and Nevis was hosting the 27th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, Dr. Carrington said: "The hosting function goes with the trend and according to the rotation which the Caribbean Heads of Government have agreed on. It is St. Kitts and Nevis" turn. So St. Kitts and Nevis takes over from the 1st of July and therefore the meeting will go to St. Kitts and Nevis. When January comes, the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines will take over at the Inter-Sessional.
