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| Trade Advisor McDonald Dixon paints an optimistic picture |
Perhaps theyd been a bit overly enthusiastic, but nearly 45 minutes after the designated 9am start, less than half the expected media participants had turned up and Commerce Ministry officials lay in wait. Invitations had been faxed more than two weeks ago. Reportedly, at least ten had confirmed their attendance but that paltry figure would ultimately be halved.
Trade Advisor McDonald Dixon finally gave the go-ahead. Alas, he would not mask his disappointment with his barely-there audience on Wednesday. This was supposed to have been in the run-up to the ministrys official launch of St Lucias CSME public education program today. The whole sensitization aspect was to be a half-day affair but it hardly lasted past an hour. Whether it was the lack of public support or initiative to blame is a matter for conjecture. He said the brief seminar was to help the press become conversant with the CSME and all its ramifications.
The session encompassed a single presentation by Barbados GIS staffer Sandra Filias, with colleague Fabian Todd at the laptop controls, armed with a structured Powerpoint presentation. Various newspaper clippings that weighed the pros and cons of the CSME were shown.
Admittedly, nothing we hadnt exactly heard before, but those present seemed altogether grateful for the verbal and digital reinforcements. But thered be a residual clangor: Barbados appears to be eons ahead.
Filias had taken time to point out the various aspects of Barbados all-out public education campaign: several fliers and informative pamphlets had been distributed, radio and TV call-in programs were monitored for the CSME concerns that had been expressed and these were later addressed, the Barbados GIS actually had staff devoted to public education about the CSME, there was also a CSME hotline.
After Filias expounded on the perceived misconceptions about mass intra-regional movement of people, she insisted that the media be a soundboard for the technocratsand a custodian and watchdog for the people.
In the wider sense of the Fourth Estate, assessing and scrutinizing, and objectively presenting the feelings, facts and findings of important events vis-à-vis disseminating pertinent information on CSME would augur well for its success, she told the attendant media personnel. Emphasis must be placed on getting the message across about the benefits of the CSME, and even the fears, the concerns and the skepticism expressed, the idea being that a balanced account is presented. The onus is on the news media to share the hopes and aspirations of a region bent on being a serious player on a new global economic stage, where production, excellence, competitiveness, high standards and evidence of an earnest work ethic will ensure that the region does more than merely provide in an aggressive, competitive global environment.
Dixon admitted that Barbados preparedness boiled down to a question of resources and finance.
Its not necessarily a question of resolve but a question of finance and resources, Dixon reassured. I want persons to remember first of all that the Treaty of Chaguaramas is not by chance but by circumstance. First of all, the islands are split up into MDCs and LDCs. St Lucia is an LDCa less developed country.
And even the Treaty of Chaguaramas makes provision for these LDCs and the creation of a level playing field. So its a question of a later starting date.
Did he believe this was an advantageous jumpstart? I dont think there is any real advantage to starting early. A Barbadian nationalif they do their job wellwould have a far greater understanding of the CSME than a St Lucian at this point in time. But in terms of the CSME coming into operation, we did not have the resources.
Sandra was anxious to add: Even though the agreed to timetable has been set for 2006, January 1st for the other countries, countries like St Kitts and Belize, at the intersessional meeting in Grenada, identified Suriname as even closer to their implementation date. And for the first time in Trinidad, Montserrat was able to say that we too will be ready. But its just a matter of the timetable.
Dixon later questioned the importance that was apparently being placed on claims that other countries were already CSME-compatible. He urged that these claims be carefully considered.
He offered his own example: I have been involved in this from 1999 and what Ive been observingand this is purely from a St Lucian perspectiveis that St Lucia, we moved to Stage Four-compatibility in 1999. Some people go 1, 2, 3, 4 over a four-year period and some people move over an eight-year period.
But the important thing was that when you reach Stage Four it meant that youre no longer charged import duties on goods of Caricom origin. But there are some countries like St Kitts and Suriname who have not reached Stage Four of the Treaty. Yet, St Kitts is among one of the countries claiming that they are closer to compatibility.
