When, therefore, CARICOM heads of government meet for an emergency summit next month, as has been proposed by the President of Guyana, they would have much more to discuss than the immediate problem of finding alternative and less costly sources of fuel supplies.

By the close of the decade of the 90s, Caribbean countries were, together, receiving merely a fraction of even the limited net official development assistance at the start of that decade of the 20th century.

As the peoples of small, poor and developing countries in this and other regions of the world have come to realise to their deep hurt, it is easier for the wealthy and powerful nations to commit billions of dollars to wage war than to make available financial resources, at times for even emergency aid, to cope with man-made and natural disasters.

Evidence of this is located in all regions of the globe.

Just last week, Barbadians themselves would have been reminded of this harsh reality as the USA and Britain waged war on Iraq.

The reminder came from Sir Henry Forde, a former Foreign Minister, when he told the House of Assembly that the break up of the bi-polar world system has not brought the promised improvement in the quality of life for the masses in the Third World.

Not only have the industrialised nations failed to meet their committed obligations of more than two decades ago to allocate aid to the poor Third World nations equivalent to at least one per cent of gross national product.

Some have been using their influence to get compliance by the international financial institutions to pursue financial and technical assistance policies that have the effect of strengthening the dependency syndrome for poor, developing states.

Aid conditionalities have multiplied problems for regions like our own, with built in provisions in agreements that ensure dependence on overseas "expertise", even when such capabilities abound across the Caribbean.

Foreign 'consultants' have been encouraged to such an extent that they are now openly establishing their own operations within the Caribbean and actively competing with capable regional institutions and consultants.

Some project contracts are even designed to give a clear competitive advantage to foreign expertise at the expense of what obtains in this region.

Perhaps the moment has arrived when regional institutions, such as the Caribbean Development Bank, should exercise some initiative, if it has not already begun such a process, to inspire Caribbean governments to have a fresh and critical look at official development aid, including issues of unnecessary duplication of efforts and the discriminatory practices in consultancy and management services.