'Peace' meeting in CARICOM's interest
Editorial
THE government and people of Guyana would be encouraged to know that the Prime Ministers of Jamaica (Percival Patterson) and Barbados (Owen Arthur) have had their face-to-face meeting to quietly, and in an atmosphere of camaraderie, discuss their differences on the creation of a South Coordinating Commission (SCC). There was understandably deep concern across the Caribbean Community over media reports about the nature of the differences, and the fact that for more than a week there appeared no possibility of the two Prime Ministers meeting to address their differences ahead of next month's 21st CARICOM Summit. Differences there will always be, but there must also be that level of political maturity and commitment among our leaders to let what's best for the region's economic integration movement and people triumph over personal differences. By their meeting, which followed sharp exchanges in their letters to each other, Prime Ministers Arthur and Patterson have evidently demonstrated both that maturity and commitment. Mr Arthur had questioned more than the lack of consultation and the procedures surrounding the creation of the South Coordinating Commission at the first-ever South Summit held in Cuba in April. He had reservations about the SCC's effectiveness and of its likely negative impact on the work of CARICOM's Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM). Mr Arthur was particularly concerned that the work of the RNM could be affected since the Steering Committee of the South Summit had requested that the head of the RNM, Sir Shridath Ramphal, serve, even on a temporary basis, as Special Adviser to the SCC. Prime Minister Patterson, a member of the Steering Committee of the South Summit and also Chairman of CARICOM's Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on External Negotiations -- to which the RNM is immediately accountable -- is said to have no reservations about the usefulness of the SCC or its likely impact on the work of the RNM. He is, however, open to other views, particularly after the vibes about lack of proper consultation during the South Summit in Havana. To what extent they succeed in persuading each other to their respective position over the SCC and related issues about procedures and consultations, may not be known before the forthcoming Heads of Government Conference takes place in St. Vincent and the Grenadines next month. Their meeting would certainly have gone a far way to remove the misunderstandings that were reflected in their correspondence. These misunderstandings, as we understand it, were partly, if not significantly, contributed to at a session of last month's meeting of CARICOM Foreign Ministers in Port-of-Spain that followed the South Summit. With differences resolved, the CARICOM leaders would be able to focus their attention more fully on the important agenda issues for the 21st Summit. Right now the Community's governments are deeply concerned, as expressed by the current Chairman, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas of St. Kitts and Nevis, over the hostility that has developed between Suriname and Guyana as a consequence of the Surinamese puzzling act of aggression against the Canadian-owned CGX Energy Inc in Guyana's territorial jurisdiction. CARICOM, which has always been strongly supportive of Guyana in its dispute arising from Venezuela's claim to this nation's territory, would be very mindful that in the current Suriname-Guyana controversy, it is dealing with two member states of the Community. The Community's Secretary General, Edwin Carrington, acting in cooperation with the CARICOM Chairman, travelled to Paramaribo yesterday after being fully briefed in Georgetown, to promote a mood for a peaceful resolution. We look forward to what he may have to report for public consumption as much as we await word on the Patterson-Arthur meeting.
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