Rhetoric vs reality in CARICOM's goals
By Rickey Singh
Guyana Chronicle
February 15, 2007
KINGSTOWN -- The year 2008 may well be, as Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said on Monday, the Caribbean Community's "date with destiny", as it prepares for a single economic space.
But how difficult are the challenges yet to be addressed with political maturity and goodwill surfaced in tense deliberations on Tuesday when CARICOM Heads of Government grappled with critical issues of trade, economic development and air transportation.
It is often the case of yawning gaps between the public rhetoric and gestures of our CARICOM leaders and the reality of lingering differences, some quite sharp, that persist on issues integral to the advancement of the major objectives of the now 33-year-old regional integration movement.
Latest example came on day two of the three-day community leaders 18th Inter-Sessional Meeting that ended yesterday in the Vincentian capital, in a plenary session that, among other matters, dealt with issues arising from the Council on Trade and Economic Development (COTED).
Insiders spoke of verbal sparks in passionate discussions on issues of regional air transportation and energy, both of which involve commitments by Trinidad and Tobago.
It appeared that some of Prime Minister Patrick Manning's counterparts in the Eastern Caribbean are especially peeved by his government's reluctance to become involved in any serious initiative that could result in the harmonisation of regional air transportation arrangements with the ultimate objective of establishment of a single Caribbean airline.
Prime Minister Gonsalves, current CARICOM chairman, who has lead responsibility among community leaders on civil aviation, went public before this week's Inter-Sessional with his disappointment that he was not even treated with the courtesy of basic information on the replacement of BWIA with Caribbean Airlines.
His subsequent efforts to interest Prime Minister Manning in a possible commercial alliance with LIAT have so far got nowhere near to an encouraging response.
For the Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur, whose government felt that the country was most unfairly treated as a traditional major hub for BWIA when Caribbean Airlines emerged at the start of this year, "we (CARICOM) are yet to discuss the concept of what it means to have a Caribbean airline".
Then there is also the other very important issue of utilisation of Trinidad and Tobago's energy resources to boost economic development in member states of the community with Jamaica as a major example.
Although Trinidad and Tobago has signed two separate agreements with Jamaica to provide it some 1.1 million tonnes of liquified natural gas (LNG) a year on preferential terms, there continues to be a failure of fulfilment due to lingering differences on pricing.
Jamaica's argument has always been that since it is part of the CSME arrangements, it must be treated on equal basis as the domestic Trinidad and Tobago market in the payment for LNG with the exception of additional cost for liquification and transportation from that country.
What has now further complicated matters is the disappointing signal to which Jamaica has been reacting -- namely, that while the pricing problem remains unresolved, Trinidad and Tobago may not be able to provide the regular supply of LNG as originally planned and agreed to.
This would have the immediate effect of disrupting Jamaica's alumina refinery which, as a joint project of Alcoa and the Jamaica Government, has substantially expanded and modernised operations.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller told a media briefing here before leaving for home that she would do "all that's necessary to make sure we (Jamaica) are not badly affected", while hoping for "positive adjustments" as soon as possible from Trinidad and Tobago.