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Commonwealth Secretary General His Excellency Mr. Don Mc Kinnon (l), St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Dr. the Hon. Denzil L. Douglas (c)and Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Barbados, the Right Hon. Owen Arthur. |
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS SEPTEMBER 29TH 2004 (CUOPM) – St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Dr. the Hon. Denzil L. Douglas said it is shocking that the American state of Delaware continues to adopt some of the very practices that caused so many small states to be blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
He told some 400 delegates attending the Opening Ceremony of a meeting of Commonwealth Ministers of Finance, that globalisation has resulted in the establishment of a large number of international standards and codes which are very costly to implement and which severely test the very limited technical and financial resources of small states that must implement such standards expeditiously or run the risk of being isolated or ‘blacklisted.’
Dr. Douglas said these nations are often forced to implement standards that developed countries have no intention of implementing in their own jurisdictions.
He said that for the financial sector, the implementation of these standards and codes has been particularly onerous and has significantly increased the cost of domestic and international intermediation.
“They have adversely affected the competitiveness of the services that we offer because our enterprise often find themselves having to compete with enterprises from developed countries that are not constrained to comply with the standards that developed countries virtually push down the throats of small states,” said Prime Minister Douglas.
He said that the countries of the OECS and other developing countries have to fashion responses to these circumstances bearing in mind that “we live in an increasingly integrated, globalised, and liberalised world which is faced with a significant trend against multilateralism and against the use of international institutions to resolve global problems.”
Dr. Douglas said that within the existing international institutions there is a significant democratic deficit. “This is most illustrated by the dominance of the G7 in international economic matters and their dominance of decision making at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the role of the Security Council in contradistinction to the General Assembly at the United Nations, and the unequal influences of the major economic powers as opposed to the developing world at the World Trade Organisation, all demonstrates that there is definitely some democratic deficit,” said Prime Minister Douglas.
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Commonwealth Ministers of Finance pose for photo on the steps of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) in St. Kitts. Photos by Erasmus Williams |
Dr. Douglas contend that countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and other developing countries must essentially take two paths – domestic transformation through political and social consensus and establishment of collaborative arrangements on common issues.
He said domestic transformation through political and social consensus on the major issues, both national and international, which affect the interests of the country, must be complemented by an appropriate and effective domestic and international economic relations policy framework and stance that sets out clearly the development objectives of the country consistent with the Millennium Development Goals and the specific Fiscal, Monetary, Trade and Structural Policies which will achieve these goals.
“The countries need to, as a matter of urgency, create the institutional, administrative and technical capacity to successfully pursue their specific objectives,” said Prime Minister Douglas.
He said countries must establish collaborative arrangements on common issues with developing countries with common interests.
“These arrangements can be very close as in the case of the OECS Treaty and CARICOM Treaty or looser and confined to very specific issues which all developing countries have in common. These common interests revolve around the effective transfer of resources in various forms to developing countries to accelerate their own development, a more democratic framework for the resolution of global issues, and a more effective system of rules that are equally binding on large and small countries,” said Prime Minister Douglas.
