Breakfasting with President Bush
Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
September 22, 2003

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THIS WEDNESDAY'S working breakfast with President George W. Bush in New York provides a good opportunity for President Bharrat Jagdeo and other invited Caribbean Community Heads of Government to underscore the overall concerns of the 15-member grouping for improved relations with the world's superpower.

Ideally, the invited governments of CARICOM - Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, The Bahamas and Grenada - should have had the opportunity to choose the composition of their delegation for the breakfast meeting with President Bush, as they did when President Ronald Reagan and President Bill Clinton occupied the White House.

CARICOM, after all, is a community of sovereign states striving, over a long period of its 30 years in existence, to speak as much as possible, if not all times, with one voice on external relations.

Perhaps it was not convenient for all of the CARICOM leaders to either be invited for the working breakfast, or for some to change their work schedules to be in New York for the occasion.

There could be unnecessary misunderstandings why some were invited and others - Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Vincent and the Grenadines - were excluded.

We're sure, nonetheless, that Washington and the Governments of all the member-nations of CARICOM appreciate that what is really desirable is the development of a proper understanding of the positions of both the United States and CARICOM.

At their 24th annual regular summit in July this year in Montego Bay, Jamaica, the CARICOM leaders spent much time, as reported, grappling with issues pertaining to efforts impacting on good relations with the USA, which is a major aid and trade partner of the region, second perhaps only to the European Union.

That summit discussed some very sensitive issues in US-CARICOM relations. Among them were Washington's perspective on CARICOM-Cuba ties, the war against Iraq, and this region's position in favour of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

It is relevant to note that in their end-of-summit communiqué the CARICOM leaders thought it necessary to state that they were "of the view that the region's relations with the United States should continue to be principled and be guided by their historic ties and shared values and interest, and that every effort should be made to renew dialogue with the US..."

In the circumstances, it is to be expected that President Jagdeo and the other regional leaders attending the working breakfast with President Bush will seek to reflect in their discussions the letter and spirit of the Montego Bay communiqué on "CARICOM-US relations".

In particular, Wednesday's meeting is of special importance to Guyana. We have been very fortunate to receive invaluable financial aid and technical support in a wide range of areas from the US at a time when Washington, like other developed countries, is reducing the size of its budget of assistance to countries around the world.

We hope that both sides, that is, the US and CARICOM, will strive boldly, in the spirit of mutual respect and in the context of their "historic ties" alluded to in the CARICOM end-of-summit communiqué, to make a success of the breakfast session. We see it paving the way for another and broader meeting with a mutually agreed agenda at a time convenient to all concerned and look forward to that being realized in the immediate future.

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