Reviewing CARICOM’S approach
Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
July 9, 2003
NOW that they have completed the 24th regular annual Summit, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government are still to overcome the recurring problem of having to confront an overloaded agenda that requires a new approach in prioritizing issues of regional importance.
The just-concluded Montego Bay Summit, at which they managed to arrive at some consensus to advance regional economic integration, was a reminder why they need to have a more realistic and manageable work agenda.
It may be a fault of the Community Secretariat as much as it is that of the Heads of Government themselves in not adhering to what was promised some years ago.
That is, that the annual summit meetings must be guided by a “realistic and manageable agenda”, structured to achieve maximum success in resolving outstanding issues of importance to fulfill mandated goals.
It is our understanding that various country delegations, including some heads of government themselves, noted with deep disappointment in Montego Bay, that there continues to be too many meetings for “exchange of views”.
Also, too many referrals of matters that could be effectively addressed with a more active involvement of the Community Secretariat and the concerned member states, instead of “passing the buck”, so to speak, for the annual summits.
Perhaps the leaders have become victims of a political culture they themselves spawned, and which has resulted in the current problem of a daunting work agenda, with too many issues being placed before them for resolutions or decisions.
Having an unwieldy agenda linked to bulky documents with lists of attachments, preceded by a one-day closed-door retreat, became more of a problem in Montego Bay with the unusual development of two days of retreat politics.
The original idea of a one-day retreat, prior to the official start of the three to four days of conferencing, was to afford the Community’s leaders the opportunity to informally diffuse problems over sensitive matters, and to have a clearer understanding of minimum achievement goals.
They therefore need to critically review whether the retreat must continue to be a feature of the regular annual summit, and if so, if the time has not come to change both the format of the retreat as well as the opening ceremony of the summit, in the interest of making the best of available time for decision making.
Further, to explore whether, what now exist as the CARICOM Bureau and functions as a “management committee” between meetings of the Community leaders, should not become integrally involved in the preparation of agendas for both the six-month inter-session meeting and the annual summit.
The foregoing from the Daily Nation of Barbados underscores the point we here have been making of the need for the regional grouping to transform its “talk shop” image into that of an “action” bloc.
We hope that with Guyana continuing to play a leading role in propelling the regional integration process, and with most of the other member-states committing to a similar pro-active approach, the goals set by CARICOM will be accomplished sooner than later.