It seems worthwhile to return once again, editorially, to the subject of the recent Caricom Heads of Government conference held in Trinidad and Tobago earlier this month. Most commentaries suggest a certain pessimism about the outcome of the meeting, and there has been no substantial comment from any of our heads refuting this view.
Instead, we are left with a conclusion that among the subjects on which some progress might have been expected to be made, nothing suggesting forward movement has transpired. In particular, there was some feeling, before the conference began, that serious consideration would be given to finding a path forward on the issues of air and sea transportation (particularly the former) among the countries of the community.
But in spite of the fact, and indeed, as we have previously observed, that in her opening remarks, Chairman of Conference and Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, indicated that her government was interested discussing a way forward particularly on air transportation, reports have been of long disputations, with no productive conclusion, in the context of the fate of Liat now in a competitive position in the Eastern Caribbean with Trinidad’s Caribbean Airlines.
It is obvious from various speeches given by the heads that in the face of the current difficult situations of many Caricom states’ economies, deemed to be due to their inability to adjust to changing international economic circumstances, the conference was not ready to agree on possible paths to adaptation in the forseeable future. Yet, speaking after the conference, Jamaican Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade A J Nicholson, no doubt in response to increasingly noisy calls from the Jamaican opposition and some business circles for a review of his country’s affiliation to Caricom, indicated that there is reason to believe that productive bilateral discussions between Trinidad and his country on the energy issue might soon be held, with a view to enhancing Jamaica’s competitive position in Caricom in the region.
This is good news, but will certainly not do much to relieve the situations and worries of other member states of the rest of the region. For it does perhaps indicate that the Trinidad government might itself prefer to have decisions made on issues in which that country would appear to have a more competitive position than others arrived at in a bilateral manner, rather than in the regional forum.
But this methodology itself may not necessarily be acceptable to other Caricom member states which consider themselves also disadvantaged, but not strong enough to make the kind of threats that Jamaica considers itself able to advance. Some of the smaller countries of the region, particularly those of the Eastern Caribbean, may well feel themselves inclined to a regional solution, rather than a separate set of bilateral, solutions. And it is noticeable, too, that the government of St Lucia, after what appears to have been a long period of hesitation, has decided, even in a period of some uncertainty in Venezuela, to adhere to that country’s Petro-Caribe-Alba initiative, in the government’s search for some relief from the pressures of high oil prices, and an increasing debt burden.
Interestingly enough, a week or so after the heads’ meeting, a statement by Mr Gerry Brooks, Chief Operating Officer of the Trinidad firm Ansa McAl, a significant investor in the region, headlined ‘Caricom model needs to be re-engineered,’ appeared in the Trinidad press. Brooks, in addressing the issue of the competitiveness of Caricom economies, observed, “While there has been some success in Caricom, the current construct of Caricom is too slow in terms of policy formulation, decision-making and execution.” He insisted that this observation was “not a condemnation of Caricom, but a constructive call for us to rethink, refashion and re-engineer the Caricom model.”
Further, in discussing Caricom, and more particularly the separate economies of the region, the Trinidad entrepreneur did not exempt Trinidad & Tobago itself from criticism about the functioning of its economy, suggesting to other countries and entrepreneurs of the region that his country is not in the position of optimal economic superiority that others might think. He insisted instead, that “T&T is trailing other emerging economies in important areas” and that the country, in spite of its energy advantage “is attracting less foreign investment than other emerging economies in its category.”
In addition, Brooks made the observation, “A closer look at peer countries such as Botswana, Chile, Colombia and Qatar – whose economies are also energy-based and whose economies slipped to negative growth in 2009 – show recovery, but T& T’s economy has not.”
It would be instructive for the Caricom Secretariat, and even heads of government, to hear from the Trinidad entrepreneur, among others, (he also discussed the weaknesses of the Barbados economy in which his firm is an investor), and in some detail, what, in his and his colleagues’ view, a refashioning of the regional economy, including Trinidad’s response to such a refashioning, would entail in terms of the current institutional operations and modes of decision-making of the Caricom regional system; and to hear what responses from the specific member states might be like.
It is not, of course, the case that Caricom governments, now mired in economic difficulties, that are, as Brooks hinted, not simply the result of recent and current global changes, have been unaware of the need for some changes in both policies and modes of implementation in Caricom as a regional economic system. For it is only a few years ago (in 2007), that Professor Norman Girvan and others, at the behest of the governments, produced for their consideration, the document, ‘Towards a Single Development Vision and the Role of a Single Economy,’ basically suggesting the pathway toward firming up the governments’ commitments to the implementation of the move towards a Single Market and Economy.
And it was only a few years later that governments received, but basically put aside, in favour of what was referred to as a “pause,” an initiative by Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, as Chairman of the Community, to advance their own commitment to the Single Economy.
In the face of that general opinion, reinforced since the recent heads meeting, that the pause seems likely to be extended, would it not be useful to invite some of the moguls of industry integrally involved in investment over the region as a whole, to take up the slack, and put forward some further views on where, and how, our economies, individually and as a region, might go from here, and what regional framework for that might be appropriate?
After all, many years ago, provision was made for both the business and labour sides of the Caricom economies to have a place of consultation at the Caricom level. That too seems to have been put on pause. Can it not now be revived by our governments to assist them, as they presently seem mired in trying to revive their singular economies, and thus the regional economy?
