Caricom ’carry go bring come’
Jamaica Observer
Caricom ’carry go bring come’
27 February 2008
Tomorrow, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) member states will assemble in Kingston to spend two days in a retreat on the conduct of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations. This is hard to believe.
The meeting is further evidence that the tradition of complacency about preparing for the future continues to be well-established in Caricom and appears to be in no danger of being replaced by a proactive approach towards inevitable economic change.
The resistance to facing reality is well illustrated by the inexcusable postponement of the restructuring of the sugar and banana industries. This delay has reduced the prospects for attaining international competitiveness and for orderly restructuring.
The recently completed EPA negotiations with the European Union is an opportunity to take a strategic approach to the future economic development of the region. Yet nothing, that we know of, has been done to plan the implementation of the EPA to allow the exporters of goods and services to seize the opportunities in a market of 450 million consumers.
Instead of focusing on implementation, Caricom is devoting time and scarce money to reviewing the structure and process of the EPA negotiations. This is not the best use of the tight human and financial resources of the region. The negotiations are over, and the structure and process of the negotiations, from the ministerial to the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), have produced an EPA. It is the most complex and comprehensive pact which the region has embarked upon. And it is the only one of its kind, as no other ACP region was able to complete one. The institutional arrangements which accomplished this cannot be all bad. The old adage is relevant: If it aint broke, don’t fix it.
What is more important is for the governments of the region to move quickly to complete their national review and approval process. The Caricom Secretariat must produce a plan and schedule for implementation as Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding requested in early January. This should include consideration of the establishment of an EPA implementation unit similar to the CSME Unit, while the CRNM continues with the ongoing and planned negotiations, such as those with Canada.
We urge Caricom to dismiss any proposal that the function of external negotiations should be resumed by its secretariat, given the respective performances of the two institutions. It’s no secret that the secretariat is less able to undertake external trade negotiations now than when it was necessary to create the CRNM over 10 years ago. Surely, memories cannot be that short.
Regrettably, while Caricom is fiddling, it is jeopardising the opportunity to commence the negotiations with Canada, which were first mooted seven years ago and revitalised by the joint Canada-Caricom decision during Prime Minister Harper’s visit to Barbados last year.
It is understandable that the region could not start while it was fully absorbed in the EPA negotiations. But since mid-December, there has been no engagement with Canada. Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic, Central America and the developing countries that compete with Caricom are clamouring to negotiate with Canada.
Enough of this Caricom ’carry go bring come’.
