BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – DURING the most recent special joint assembly of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Authority and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Monetary Council, it was agreed that given the prevailing economic conditions, it is imperative that policy arrangements be strengthened and coordinated to “drive the action plan”.
The two-day meeting, held in Basseterre, St. Kitts January 15-16, saw contingents of Prime Ministers and Ministers of Finance who identified tourism, construction and fisheries as the three main sectors to concentrate their efforts on to generate economic activity. It was acknowledged that the necessary policy framework and arrangements should be implemented at both the country and regional levels to facilitate renewed growth and sustainable development.
Chairperson of the OECS Authority and Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Hon. Dr. Ralph Gonsalves stated, “We are addressing these sections specifically, but all of these things require a particular policy framework and certain transitional institutional arrangements to address our way forward and our plan of action.
“At this meeting we agreed to endorse, with modification, to include the Regional Integration Units, a model for ‘Policymaking Framework and Architecture in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union/Organization of the Eastern Caribbean States’ which was prepared by the ECCB to streamline more of the regional administrative systems and make them better on the national level to have more meaningful output. We can’t afford any slackness during this period; we have to work harder and smarter!”
Gonsalves indicated that among other things, the ECCB proposal identifies the Committee of Permanent Secretaries as having a coordinating and collaborating role in policy formulation and implementation. He informed that it was also agreed upon to establish a Task Force, under the his chairmanship, and including the Chairman of the OECS Authority Grenada’s PM Tillman Thomas, the Chairman of the ECCB Monetary Council Antigua’s Dr. Errol Cort, the Governor of ECCB Sir K. Dwight Venner, and the Director General of the OECS Dr. Len Ishmael, to provide oversight and coordination of the implementation of the action plan.
Gonsalves explained, “This political framework is open-ended; any Head of Government can attend any of the meetings of this entity but for the ease of moving in a swift way, we have the structure [as outlined] and under that is the Policymaking Framework recommended by the ECCB. This is to make a better coordination between our regional institutions within the sub-region and our national governments.
“If you look at our objectives for the specific areas, we are going to need some more money than what we have in our own system; more money than we can generate in surpluses from the operation of our own economies. We are going to jointly make approaches to the funding agencies: those that provide grant funds and soft loans so that we can get direct foreign investment. But, we can also borrow monies on a group basis for specific projects for interventions.”
The institutional framework for the region’s plan of action encompasses transitional arrangements for addressing crisis and a special objective of achieving economic union status by December 2009. It also includes domestic policy and institutional arrangements to facilitate programme, social safety nets, fiscal and tax implications of the crisis and energy issues. Other areas of concern would include bulk procurement of essential goods and the three main areas of focus: construction, tourism and fisheries.
Regional Integration Units, established in the Offices of the Prime Ministers, are mandated to assist with the coordination of implementation of the plan of action.
