It is expected that discussions between trade, investment and financial experts from the region and from New York at the Conference on the Caribbean would lead to concrete initiatives that would spur economic growth in the Caribbean.
Speaking at the opening of the two-day Conference yesterday morning in Brooklyn, New York Caricom Chairman and Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Baldwin Spencer said the moment was “opportune for us as a Region to engage in this interface with existing and prospective investment and trade partners.”
The conference is being held under the theme, ‘The New York Conference on the Caribbean Community: A 20/20 Vision Continued’ and see participation from some of the region’s and New York’s leading investors, stockbrokers, economists and other representatives from the financial sector. It will include trade presentations, roundtable discussions and meetings on core issues like trade, investment, education and the Diaspora’s role in regional development. The first conference was held in Washington DC last year.
Spencer said the two-day New York meeting aims at advancing plans in the said areas and that Caribbean leaders and other sectors’ representatives are expected to engage key figures in New York State tertiary education institutions and the most influential business and investment actors in the city and within the Diaspora. Spencer also told the meeting which included US Congressman Charles Rangel that Caricom was undergoing significant development and transformation and that the positive developments in the Caribbean’s investment environment would provide an attractive climate and framework for fruitful discussions.
He said in order to ensure that the region has the human resource capacity needed to boost development; education and training remain key issues that regional governments must treat. “It is no secret that many of our best and brightest leave our shores; a significant number of them are here in the US many of them are in New York, and I dare say, a number of them are right here in this room! It is therefore imperative that the Caribbean strengthens its education institutions in order to provide for regional as well as international demand in critical areas,” Spencer said.
Meanwhile, at the Education Symposium held later in the day, Caricom Lead Prime Minister on Education, Dr Denzil Douglas said that educators and researchers are perplexed about the growing trend of male underperformance or under achievement and are sensitive to the need for corrective action that may have significant social consequences. He said too there is the added issue of the migration of skilled and highly trained professionals and the need to tackle the “brain drain” or “brain gain” to the mutual benefit of both the Caribbean and US societies.
While the Symposium focused on collaboration among higher educational institutions, Douglas said it was critical to note that viable tertiary systems were highly dependent on the foundations laid during pre-school and kindergarten through to the elementary and secondary levels. He said that the establishment of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) provides as one of its main objectives, the free movement of goods, services and people which would accelerate the growth of tertiary level institutions in the region.
Noting the structured and integrated educational system throughout Caricom and beyond, with the Caribbean Examinations Council at the core Douglas said this demonstrates that Caricom provides a relatively homogenous education system that is reinforced by the trade, economic and social elements of the integration process, driven by the progress toward the CSME. He said even as Caricom “strives to modernize its approach and to prepare for the competition occasioned by the global liberalization of education, there are realities that must be faced and challenges that need to be confronted in some cases and embraced in others.”
Douglas noted that a recent Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) survey showed that the tertiary education sector in the Caribbean is characterized by a range of public, private and foreign-owned providers. There are over 150 institutions of which 60% are public, 30% private and the remaining 10% exist with some government support. It also showed that St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and Grenada have attracted 14 offshore tertiary education institutions to their locations, the majority of which are US-sponsored and mainly medical schools. The experience of these states with multinational tertiary institutions indicates that the commercial presence of those institutions has provided foreign direct investment. While the precise quantitative impact is yet to be determined in each country, the downstream business opportunities created is testament to the significant economic impact that foreign direct investment in education services can bring about.
As the lead competitor in the tertiary education sector and as a member of the WTO, the US has sought “…full commitments for market access and national treatment in higher education and training services, for adult education, and for ‘other’ education.” Douglas said this request by the US has been made to all 145 WTO members and given that one significant aspect of the General Agreement in Trade and Services (GATS) is non-reciprocity, Caricom Member States were quite cynical about and resistant to the request. This is one area that is worthy of further discussion and cooperation since developed countries such as the USA are much more competitive in this sector and the domestic providers such as those in the Caribbean are not ready for an open, market driven environment he said.
He said that many student leaders and academics have criticized the ‘for profit’ tertiary level education (TLE) agenda driven by entrepreneurial universities and multinational service providers. They submitted that the concept of the student as a consumer and TLE as a product fails to acknowledge the importance of education as a social tool and runs counter to the creation of a knowledge driven society, with democratic, tolerant and active citizens. He said there have been calls for universities to protect the essential role of TLE as a public good, and not to support its subordination to market forces that will undermine accessibility and exacerbate social inequalities.
During the conference, Caricom leaders will also meet with Rangel, the Harlem Congressman; New York Governor David Paterson, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other elected officials. Yesterday’s luncheon event was hosted under the theme Trade and Foreign Direct Investment as Instruments to spur Economic Growth and Achieve Sustainable Development in the Caribbean. Other encounters focusing on trade and investment were hosted by the New York Empire State Development Corporation at the Brooklyn Marriott.
Delegates were expected to discuss investment at several meetings with top executives of Wall Street today. The general theme of the meetings is ‘The Role of International Institutions in Assisting Small States to Achieve Competitive Advantage in the Global Marketplace.’
The launch yesterday was hosted by Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President, Rangel and the Caricom Consular Corps of New York. Markowitz and Rangel welcomed the Heads of Government and their delegations to New York expressing hopes for a successful conference.
Charles Hynes, Brooklyn District Attorney; McChesney Emmanuel, Chairman, New York Caribbean Consular Corps and Halim Majeed of the Caribbean-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also addressed the opening ceremony. The Conference coincides with events to mark Caribbean-American Heritage Month in the United States.
