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REMARKS BY
HON. DR. KENNY D. ANTHONY
PRIME MINISTER OF SAINT LUCIA
AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE
TWENTY-THIRD REGULAR MEETING
OF THE CONFERENCE OF HEADS OF GOVERNMENT OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY
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GEORGETOWN, GUYANA
3 JULY 2002
SALUTATIONS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I last visited Guyana at the behest of my colleague Heads, acting as their
envoy, and charged with the responsibility for assisting with the resolution of
the country’s political problems.
The circumstances are different this time around, and as I understand it, so is
the political situation. I was honoured then, to be in Guyana, and remain
grateful for the cooperation and goodwill with which that weighty mission was
received. The success of its engagement in Guyana represents in my view, one of
CARICOM’s crowning moments in regional diplomacy, and for this we must commend
both President Jagdeo and Mr. Desmond Hoyte who accepted the wisdom of CARICOM’s
involvement.
I am a returning envoy to another Caribbean home. Guyana was my
home for the short period of my life at the CARICOM Secretariat, and has also
been home for many Saint Lucians over the years. Waves of Saint Lucians migrated
to Guyana in the 1950s and 1960s to work in the mining industry of Guyana. So
much so, that Guyanese christened Saint Lucians as “palawallas”, because they
found their kweyol language to be mystifying and confusing.
As on that earlier occasion when I visited as the envoy of CARICOM Heads, I am
most honoured to be here today, this time more directly in the service of the
people of Saint Lucia.
A MOST CHALLENGING PHASE
It is in that capacity, Ladies and Gentlemen, that I hope to focus your
attention. The Caribbean Community is experiencing a most challenging phase in
its collective history. We stand on the verge of a transformation; a defining
moment in our evolution into a Single Market and Economy. This transformation
cannot be superficial, for what we are contemplating should constitute a most
profound change of both our genus and our species. It cannot be a putting on of
new skin over obsolete and unviable skeletons. It is an opportunity to evolve
into a superior, more viable, more relevant institution, capable of thorough
adaptation to the new environment we propose to inhabit.
We are perhaps all too familiar with that environment, and the challenges posed
by the international context within which our Community is located. Indeed, we
may be all too susceptible to the conventional responses expected of us, and
somewhat less comfortable with the radical internal challenges that arise
alongside our thrust to truly transform our Community. These are potentially
more fundamental than the externalities with which we must inevitably treat, and
I wish to offer some specific examples for your consideration.
BUILDING REGIONAL CONSTITUENCY
Firstly, let me say that over the last few years I have become even more
convinced that among the significant challenges facing the leadership of our
Community is the task of building a regional constituency to whom we are truly
accountable. It is a constant preoccupation to convince our people that our
collective efforts and initiatives at the regional level are in their best
interest; and by extension, how we motivate them to identify with, participate
in, and defend those efforts and initiatives.
Colleagues, it is of the utmost importance that we see the people of our Region
as partners in this endeavour upon which we are embarked. It is equally
important that they see themselves as partners in that process, equally
empowered at each step in the process. We cannot afford a great and glaring
“disconnect” between the Conference of Heads of Government and “the ground”; a
chasm which can only impede our progress as a people in general, and as a
Community in the process of becoming a Single Market and Economy.
The initiative of the Heads of Government to engage regional Civil Society in
dialogue is a major accomplishment. However, if it is to be credible and
legitimate, it must be accompanied by an enduring willingness to engender and
embrace a regional constituency; to shorten the distance between the hallowed
halls of regionalism and the fallow footpaths of popular aspiration. The quest
for enhanced relevance must therefore become an integral feature of our
ambitions.
This is a new age characterised by new types of engagement between Government
and Civil Society, and we must strive to enhance the Region’s political culture,
while ensuring that the business of the Community is not the subject of partisan
political agendas.
I suggest to you that the rate of progress, and the level of public acceptance
of initiatives aimed at strengthening the Community - such as the Caribbean
Court of Justice - would have been much advanced had the regional Civil Society
been engaged earlier and more formally on this issue.
THE CCJ - A BAROMETER OF THE CHALLENGE
Speaking of the Caribbean Court of Justice, I do not think we can find a better
barometer of the challenge we face as leaders of our Caribbean Community. I find
it incomprehensible that any citizen of our Region, valuing his independence,
should still wish to see our highest court perpetually domiciled within the
erstwhile colonial capital. We value our independence yet we cannot trust
ourselves. It is amazing that we want taxpayers of the United Kingdom to
continue to pay the cost of our judicial freedom. That there are still pockets
of such thinking, represents for me, the greatest psychological irony of
Caribbean independence.
Nevertheless, we cannot allow ourselves to be incapacitated by disappointment
and bewilderment. We must continue to soldier on, strengthened by our belief in
the righteousness of our cause, but always working to ensure that the people of
the Region share in the articulation of our vision and participate in its
realization.
ECONOMIC PLIGHT OF OECS
Colleagues, I am no less concerned about the worsening economic circumstances fo
the Member States of our Community. Of particular and special concern is the
economic situation within the OECS which comprises full half of CARICOM’s
membership. The last decade has been particularly difficult for the OECS Member
States. Their economic fortunes have been declining, and the last fiscal year
has been perhaps the worst that our respective governments have had to endure in
recent history.
The inescapable realities of size, population and paucity of natural resources,
constrain production options in limited domestic markets. These militate against
the achievement of sustained growth and development. We have consistently
maintained that any economic success registered in our economies has been the
result of sound economic management of a nevertheless fragile resource base. We
have also been consistent in our assertion that our economies are particularly
vulnerable to external shocks; and have warned too, that systematic erosion of
the EU/ACP regime for bananas would eventually lead to economic and social
deterioration within our economies.
Today, the result stare us starkly in the face; not only on the streets of
banana producing members, but in non-banana producing states as well. Surely,
anyone who understands the dynamics of the regional economy will know that the
difficulties currently being experienced in the OECS will be transmitted through
the regional market to non-OECS members of CARICOM.
Sadly however, it does not appear that this view has gained much currency among
some of the Region’s key economic institutions. Surely, the time has come for us
to explore new and more appropriate mechanisms for addressing periodic bouts of
economic crisis in our Community.
SCEPTICISM ABOUT FTAA
In this context, some administrations remain acutely sceptical about the
benefits to be derived from WTO compliance as well as accession to the FTAA. We
are asked whether the gains significantly outweigh the impending risks and
inevitable costs. We are being asked to confirm whether our acquiescence is
driven by political expediency or by a fundamental determination to fashion a
new trading environment more conducive to growth and prosperity. In responding
to these queries, do we ask our private sectors to go gently into that night, or
to rail against the dark? What is the advice that we must extend to our private
sectors?
We cannot shy away from a calculated look at our geo-political situation. Our
Region has very few remaining friends. Bilateral partners are preoccupied with
other matters such as bartering aid for democracy in Africa, or securing
national borders and global turf against new waves of political and economic
destabilisation. What message do we read when a financial institution, resident
in the Region since the early eighteen hundreds, unceremoniously sells its
entire portfolio? We may rightly wonder at the symbolism... a cold commercial
transaction or an ordained divorce from the regional landscape?
Though there is a certain advantage in harmony, - “singing from the same hymn
book”, - as Sir Shridath Ramphal would say - many of our constituents still
wonder whose song we are singing. They ask whether the lyrics are relevant to
our development agenda. And while I will not pretend that narrow national
politics should deter the greater regional good, I find an undeniable and
instinctive rationality in our Caribbean people wanting to identify the
conductors of this global symphony. While some of us are marching ahead
purposefully and confidently toward the dawn of the FTAA, others are having
serious doubts. We have some difficulty seeing the practical benefits that are
to result from our participation. And Saint Lucia is saying that we cannot
continue to follow in a wake of blind faith.
Our community has learnt not to be apologetic or intimidated when pursuing our
perceived interests in the arena of international economic negotiations. Before
we proceed, Saint Lucia wants to understand what practical benefits the FTAA
bears for us. There seems to have been an assumption that has matured over time,
that we are fully behind the FTAA process, ready to sign on the dotted line. Let
me caution that this assumption is not only wrong, but dangerous.
Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is no overstatement that our Community is
at an important crossroads. Its future direction depends on the quality of our
work over the next few days and months.
It seems to me though, that the time has come to consider fundamental reforms to
the programme of work at our Meetings of Conference. Heads of Government should
not be faced with constantly receiving reports, Conference after Conference.
Perhaps the practice which we have pursued on occasions, of having the Heads
deliberate on key issues in caucus, and allowing the Ministers and Officials to
receive and review non-critical agenda items, should be deepened and expanded.
Our experience has shown that it is far easier to obtain consensus on burning
issues when the Heads meet in the atmosphere of frankness and security provided
by the Caucus. I wish to suggest
therefore, that the Caucus of Heads be extended and that the plenary be managed
by Ministers and Officials.
The Conference should be preoccupied with real and living issues facing our
Community. For example, there is every reason at this time to focus our agenda
on the economic crisis sweeping the Region. This is an occasion to reassure our
people, to deepen and strengthen our relationships with our social partners, and
to offer practical advice that will shape our economic revival.
I particularly look forward to the presentations to be made by fellow Heads, the
President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and the Governor of the
Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB). Esteemed gentlemen it cannot and must not
be business as usual. And,
I pray that new courage and enlightenment will characterize our discussions
thereafter.
I thank you, and as always, trust in your good faith and collective wisdom.
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