Opinion
- Editorial- Commentary
Rickey
Singh: Time
to walk the talk
- Bridgetown / FRESH
FROM the just-concluded unique "Conference
on the Caribbean" in Washington, Caricom Heads
of Government begin their 28th regular annual summit
today. with a ceremonial opening in the courtyard
of the Barbados Parliament - the oldest
such institution in this hemisphere.
The agenda for their plenary working sessions,
the first of which begins tomorrow morning at the
new Barbados Hilton, is full of pressing issues,
some of which have dominated previous summits and
inter-sessional meetings.
For
instance, completing the framework arrangements
in 2008 for phased implementation of the Caricom
Single Market and Economy (CSME) - now guided by
the Norman Girvan-authored document "Towards a
Single Economy and a Single Development Vision".
Secondly,
strengthening the foundation of what has recently
been identified as the "fourth
pillar" of the 34-year-old Community "security".
This "pillar" covers, among other burning
social issues, endemic crime and violence; trafficking
in arms, drugs and people, as well as a new emphasis
on terrorism threats, following the foiled JFK
airport "terrorist plot", and
amid recurring concerns that this particular aspect
may be externally-driven.
The
three other "pillars" that have
been standing virtually from the inception of the
region's integration movement, are trade and economic
development; foreign policy and functional cooperation.
If
there has been a time when "functional
cooperation" should be upgraded for
new implementation strategies, that time
is certainly now; and this week's summit is challenged
to make it a ground-breaking event in this particular
area, according to some senior ministers and top
regional technocrats.
Listening
Caricom leaders would be aware of the cries of
the people to treat regional air and sea
transportation as a most urgent priority
for action in the area of functional cooperation.
In
this "Community of sovereign
states", vital sectors, like tourism and agriculture, remain
vulnerable due to lack of  concrete
plans to make a reality of long promised
regional projects in air and sea transportation.
Chief
spokesman on regional transportation is Prime
Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent
and the Grenadines, the Community's outgoing chairman.
After
Cricket World Cup 2007, there are now rising
protestations across the Community
against escalating air fares; more uneasiness over
threats to the survival of a few regional
carriers, and while hopes of a ferry
service to supplement intra-regional movement of
people and goods, remain a dream.
In
this situation, therefore, as some regional technocrats
argue, the Heads of Government should pay
heed to calls for narrowing the  credibility
gap between promises and action in this
34th year of Community in which just ONE
full-fledged member state could still frustrate ANY
major decision from implementation.
Check-list on "progress"
Taking
that factor into consideration, it may be
useful for morale-boosting and confidence-building of
the Community's people for this week's summit to
come forward with at least a skeletal check-list
on where we are at in terms of implementation of
arrangements on, for example:
l Forging a cohesive, programme for regional air
and sea transportation - they have been talking
about for more than two decades.
l
Development Fund: Exactly when will the Community be "ready" to
inaugurate the CARICOM Development
Fund (CDF), provided for in the Community Treaty,
and deemed integral for the emerging seamless
economy--especially the so-called "disadvantaged" ones?
l
Envisaged to be operational with some US$250
million in funding (US120 million by CARICOM)
and
the rest from donor governments and agencies, there
is now a reported major hurdle to be crossed in the
modalities of its management and operations.
Should, for instance, the fund function under
a separate charter or, as some major potential
donors prefer, within the ambit of the Caribbean
Develoment Bank (CDB) which has done much of the
basic work in helping to shape it?.
l
Energy security: Further, there is the need for
public enlightenment of the status of plans
for energy security, especially against the backdrop
of the Venezuela-initiated PetroCaribe and last
month's "Joint Statement" with President
George Bush pertaining to new concerns that "more
than 95 percent of CARICOM's energy needs are derived
from fossil fuels..."
Is
there to be a supplementary initiative on bio-fuels?
The Caricom leader to deal with both the regional
energy policy and programmes as well as the expanding "security
pillar" within the Community, will be Prime
Minister Patrick Manning.
l
Food Security: Required also is an update
on arrangements for the transformation of Caribbean
agriculture with "food security" as a
core objective.
This
would involve breaking the heavy dependence
on foreign imports, currently costing an
estimated US$3 Billion - in the face of some member
countries continuing to default on preferential
purchase of what's produced in CARICOM. An example
is Guyana's rice.
Guyana's
President Bharrat Jagdeo has lead
responsibility for transformation of the Community's agriculture
sector.
l
Health: To what extent has implementation taken
place on the report of the Sir George Alleyne-led
blue-ribbon 'Caribbean Commission on Health and
Development", submitted two years ago this
month?
The
central theme of the Commission's report is based
on the slogan "The Health of the Region
is the Wealth of the Region" that emerged
from CARICOM's "Nassau Declaration" of
2001. What progress has been made, as a Community, in
some of the critical areas highlighted,
for instance:.
Alarming Diseases
Progress
report is required on actions taken on the Commission's focus on the "alarming
increase" in chronic non-communicable disease
- including heart disease, diabetes, cancer,
and hypertension, as well as the daunting problem
of obesity among adults (male and female) and children.
l
Rights Charter: On human rights
and freedoms, it is more than high
time, also for an update on efforts made to elevate
the CARICOM Charter of Civil Society into a legally-binding
document. The charter was endorsed 10 years ago
by Caricom governments.
In
the absence of it being made a legally-binding
instrument, it is felt that the charter should
at least be submitted for approval by national
parliaments so that violations could be alluded
to in relevant court cases.
l
A time-line is required also for the proposed
new governance architecture for Caricom - whether
or
not having at its core a recommended
high-level commission, empowered with executive
authority.
The
latest report dealing with governance for "mature
regionalism", was that of a Technical
Working Group headed by former Director General
of the OECS Secretariat, Vaughan Lewis, and considered
at Caricom's last Inter-Sessional Meeting in Kingstown,
St Vincent this past February.
It
would be a welcome surprise to learn that for
this 28th Caricom summit, the leaders are anxious
to cut the talk and do the walk on an "action
agenda" for implementation priorities.
Particularly in relation to the inauguration
of the Caricom Development Fund; new governance
arrangements; and in the area of regional air and
sea transportation.
Rickey
Singh is
a journalist with the Trinidad Express.
Petroleumworld not necessarily share these views.
Editor's
Note: This article was first publish in Trinidad
Express, Sunday,
July 1st 2007.
Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest
of our readers.
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Petroleumworld
07/01/07
Copyright ©2006
Rickey
Singh.
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