The return of the United National Congress, as the core of the People’s Partnership (PP) coalition, to power in Trinidad and Tobago must naturally give rise to the question of the extent of continuity that there is likely to be in the country’s relationships and policies towards first, the Caricom sub-region itself and then to the wider Caribbean Basin and Latin American arenas. The PP’s manifesto in relation to foreign affairs tended to put a focus on the issues of transparency and accountability, and of consultation with civil society in the conduct of foreign relations. And in that connection it alluded to the possible use of the referendum as the final approval for particular foreign policy initiatives. No doubt that was a reaction to the widespread perception of then Prime Minister Manning’s “one-manism” in public decision-making. But it will also have reflected the influence of the civil society and labour parts of the PP coalition.
The PP’s pre-election attitude to two initiatives which had recently been taken by the Manning government indicate this emphasis on the need for consultation. The coalition indicated an unwillingness to pursue the then government’s initiative on an Eastern Caribbean-Trinidad and Tobago economic union and political integration formula; and it seemed to be wary of a maritime delimitation agreement initialled by Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada which the Manning government had agreed to, as a conclusion of a long-drawn out process of negotiations over the years. The attitude that the PP takes in the near future to this latter agreement is left to be seen; and no doubt it will find it opportune to clarify the extent to which, in Grenada itself, the delimitation arrived at can be based on some kind of national consensus there, since the opposition in that country has also been objecting to it.
In regard to the TT-Eastern Caribbean initiative, it is probably fair to say that the general population of Trinidad was hardly informed in any great detail of the nature of the agreement, particularly in respect of its precise main objectives and the process whereby it was intended that they might be achieved. And the UNC, as the sole opposition grouping in the last parliament, will certainly have felt left out of any consultation by the Manning government. From Manning’s perspective, the initiative seemed to reflect the growing presence and interest of the Trinidad business and financial sector in the Eastern Caribbean and his increasing concern with the need for a more integrated approach to security in the east-southern Caribbean, as the threat of the trade in narcotics emanating from South America seemed to increasingly engulf both Trinidad and the Eastern Caribbean.
But a hesitancy on the part of the Trinidad government to indicate the relationship between the Manning initiative and the Caricom integration system also created a certain skepticism even in relatively enlightened circles in Trinidad. Further, the issue has, in more recent times, become overwhelmed by the concern of both the Trinidad government and the private sector with coming to terms with the financial crisis that has spilled over from the US into the Caribbean, with consequent difficulties for some of the conglomerates of the country’s private sector, some with interests in the Eastern Caribbean. Yet, interestingly enough, that very financial crisis has induced substantial cooperation between the central banks of Trinidad, the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados, and indicated the need, once again, for deeper policy cooperation in the sphere of economics between these countries.
No doubt the PP government will find itself having to continue to deal with these regional implications of the financial crisis. It will, no doubt, also find itself concerned with the fact that some of the Eastern Caribbean countries, in a desperate search for financial resources even while they have been in receipt of support from Trinidad and Tobago, have had recourse to support from Chavez’s Venezuela, some going as far as joining the ALBA, in circumstances where Venezuela maintains its claim to Bird Island in the north-east Caribbean and to Guyanese territory. Trinidad has had, since the era of Dr Eric Williams, a certain suspicion of alliances with Venezuela which it has deemed too close, and there is reason to believe that this will be a cross-party concern. Yet the new Trinidad government will surely continue to pursue negotiations with Venezuela on what have been ongoing maritime delimitations that imply cooperation for cross-border exploitation of natural gas resources.
Going beyond the Eastern Caribbean to Jamaica, the new government will be met by a periodic concern on the part of that country that the terms on which Trinidad is willing to reach agreement for sale of its natural gas, are not in concordance with Jamaica’s interpretation of the Caricom Single Market arrangements. The issue has serious implications for Caricom, since there have been increasing noises emanating from Jamaican circles, and even some elements in the traditionally more nationalistic Jamaica Labour Party now in government, suggesting that Trinidad’s unwillingness to come to terms virtually could make Caricom, from a Jamaican point of view, irrelevant. The Jamaican case is reinforced by the fact that the existing terms of trade between the two countries substantially favour Trinidad.
It was, however, Trinidad which, in the early 1990s, began pushing Caricom to, de facto, widen the sphere of Caricom trade through reaching free trade agreements with both the Dominican Republic and the Central American countries. And the United National Congress government under Basdeo Panday showed an inclination, undoubtedly in response to pressures from the Trinidad business sector in search of new arenas for investments and exports, to follow this initiative, while also showing an inclination towards exploring business investment possibilities in Guyana and Suriname utilizing resources from Trinidad’s natural gas boom. In this regard, we can surmise that a reasonable pointer to how the PP government views integration as a reality, will be the extent to which it responds to Trinidadian private sector initiatives in the wider region – its attitude towards both Caricom and the wider arena being traditionally prone to be less ideological, some might say less sentimental – than that of Manning and his PNM. Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has appointed as her Minister of Economic Planning, Dr Mary King, an individual long advocating an alternative use of the energy and financial resources available to Trinidad in recent years.
In the last few years of his administration, Prime Minister Manning seemed to indicate a wider interest in positioning Trinidad in international affairs than even his dominant PNM predecessor Eric Williams did. Some suggested that this was a function of Trinidad’s new natural gas wealth, while others more cynically observed that his efforts were based on delusions of grandeur. So both Manning’s initiatives in hosting the Common-wealth Heads of Government and the Summit of the Americas were looked at with much skepticism by the then opposition and, indeed, a wider civil society.
Yet it is unlikely that in relation to our hemipshere, that there will be any move away by Trinidad from a more extensive participation in Latin American affairs that has characterized Caricom diplomacy in recent times. Since the UNC was last in office, the momentum towards deeper integration and consultation in the hemisphere has increased. And the real question will be whether Trinidad finds it necessary, or useful, to pursue a more collective approach on the part of Caricom in our attempts to function in that wider arena. No doubt the country’s foreign affairs officials will be indicating to the new government the implications of the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit recently held in Spain, as well as the EU’s increasing desire to consolidate its relations with the Spanish-speaking part of the Caribbean, seeing Caricom as a sub-set of the wider Caribbean, rather than as a separate diplomatic system. The new government will have to make up its mind as to what part it will wish to play in influencing Caricom’s attitude and relationship to these new developments in our hemisphere.
