Belize hosts CARICOM bosses
Posted: 13/03/2009 - 09:05 AM
Author: Adele Ramos
For the next two days Belize plays host to 154 delegates from 11 sister Caribbean states attending the 20th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), being hosted at the Radisson Fort George Hotel in Belize City.
Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow is leading the meeting, in his role as CARICOM chairman for the first half of 2009. During official opening ceremonies preceding today’s business meetings where officials met in caucus, Prime Minister Barrow embraced his regional counterparts and heralded the session as one of special significance.
“At a time when thinking big is a necessity, it helps to accentuate the scope and reach of our Community, it helps to underscore the ambition of our grand enterprise, but it also helps to dramatize the problems inherent in taming what can sometimes seem like this wild beast of Caribbean integration,” said Barrow.
The meeting comes at a time when the Caribbean faces dire challenges brought on by the world economic turmoil, and CARICOM officials say they are convinced that it is only regional integration that can soften the consequences of the financial fallout.
Addressing the CARICOM delegates this morning, Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington, asserted that, “Our integration movement should really not be seen only in terms of its capacity for crisis prevention and intervention. There is much to commend it in its capacity for development.”
He added that, “The Heads of Government will, over the next few days, pay close attention to the way forward in the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement signed last October.”
That agreement sets a new scope for trade relations between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (the ACP) and the European Union.
“The signing of the EPA has been, to put it mildly, controversial. And implementation is already throwing up its own obstacles,” said Prime Minister Barrow.
But while there was much talk about trade at this morning’s proceedings, Prime Minister Barrow made a major announcement to his Caribbean counterparts, putting on record his administration’s intention to replace London’s Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) for both civil and criminal matters.
The Privy Council has been blamed for staying the executions of many convicted in lower courts with murder, but more than that, indications are that some countries in the region are warming up to the idea of having a court closer to home controlled by their regional counterparts to arbitrate their legal matters.
Witnessing PM’s Barrow notable announcement was no less than Belize’s Chief Justice, Dr. Abdulai Conteh, one of the special guests sitting on the sidelines during this morning’s opening ceremonies.
“Both as Chairman and as Lead Head for Justice and Governance, the CCJ is another matter I feel I must raise in these opening remarks....” said Prime Minister Barrow. “I commend the merit of the court as a critical linchpin of our movement; and I also undertake to propose shortly here at home the constitutional amendment that would allow Belize to sign on to the appellate jurisdiction.”
“It represents a key element of the Community’s governance process, but so far only two countries use it as their final court of appeal in civil and criminal matters.”
During a press briefing this afternoon, Amandala confirmed from Dr. Edward Greene, Assistant Secretary-General of CARICOM (Human and Social Development), that those two countries are Guyana and Barbados.
“Belize will soon follow,” said Greene, noting that other countries are “sensitive” to the need of bringing the CCJ on line.
Of note is that way back in 2004, a year before the inauguration of the CCJ in Trinidad and Tobago, and again in 2007, Mr. Barrow, as Leader of the Opposition, fervently opposed the full replacement of the Privy Council with the CCJ.
When we asked him after this morning’s opening about the shift in his stance, Prime Minister Barrow told us: “I’ve had a chance to digest this matter, ruminate on it, it’s been marinating with me for a while and I think that the time has come – we’ve discussed it in Cabinet, first to put it out there for the Belizean people, and this will be done by way of proposing the amendment. We’ll see how the discussion goes.”
He said that the proposed constitutional amendment to replace the Privy Council with the CCJ would go through a 90-day waiting period, during which the issue would be discussed and the reaction of Belizeans to adopting the full jurisdiction of the CCJ would be taken into account.
In explaining the widespread resistance of countries in the region to adopt the full jurisdiction of the CCJ, Dr. Greene told Amandala that, “One of the problems is reconciling the legislation within the countries. And if you think about it, just after the implementation of the CCJ many countries changed governments, and in the 18 months to two years we’ve had changes in 7 governments, and so it is not starting over again, but certainly getting Oppositions who have been in opposition to the CCJ now to accept. This is some of the dynamics that really stymie the regional programs.”
The CCJ is only one dimension of the move towards consolidating regional ties among countries of the Caribbean; however, even as the region continues to promote the agenda for regional integration, countries are faced with the hard facts on the ground – that all the countries, and especially those financially challenged smaller economies, have very pressing problems to deal with within their own borders, as the global financial crisis continues to cast a dark shadow over their domestic affairs.
We conveyed to Dr. Greene at this afternoon’s press briefing that one would argue that this would be one of the toughest times to sell the idea of a Single Market and Economy, because of the level of vulnerability some countries are faced with.
“Sure, but yet it is the precise time that we could make it work,” he argued. “In order for us to survive, in the international arena, we are so small singly, that we could only create a viable resistance to it if we act collectively...
“Even though there is a paradox in what I’m saying, I think we have an opportunity now more than ever to demonstrate that by going collective, we can create the viability that is required to sustain our adversity.”
We asked: Do you think that cohesion could sustain for the long term?
“I think so, because basically human beings are rational people, and when you look around you and you look at the world developing, you could see that in the context of viability for this region that it’s only regionalism that will help us survive.”
He said that it was collective regional intervention that enabled CARICOM to effectively deal with the fall of CLICO, an insurance company with branches in Belize and other countries in the region.
This notwithstanding, Greene also conceded that there continues to be a certain level of skepticism even among those who have an understanding of the CSME concept, as to whether this process will truly benefit them and their communities.
“And I can understand the skepticism, especially now with the crisis in which countries may have once again established some more protective policies about their own economies and may be a little more stingy in acceptance of free movement. Because really, if you think about it, if your financial system has crashed, unemployment is increasing and so on, you don’t have the same mechanisms for liberalization... How would you explain to people in Antigua that you continue to have 50% of their population as non-Antiguans, when the unemployment rate for Antiguans is going up?
“So although we have a Single Market and Economy, there are some pragmatic things that we have to take account of, but we have to continue pushing and educating our people as a region.”
One of the major challenges facing CARICOM is reaching out to the masses in helping them to grasp the grand CSME concept. According to Greene, the youth of the region are providing an important link in helping to increase awareness through the use of modern-day technology:
“It’s the awareness and the public education that I think we have to deal with... I think we now have to use more effectively the new information technology...what the youth ambassador’s program has adopted is the use of the cell phone as a mechanism for doing business, of managing the affairs...what they do is to engage in discussions on the topics that they have chosen and make decisions using the cell phone. And that has mobilized and created a lot of energy among the youth ambassadors across 15 countries in the Caribbean in a way that would not have been possible if we had just done it through the traditional way.”
The Assistant Secretary-General, in summarizing the discussions held by Heads of Governments today, noted that among the issues raised were the current global financial crisis, and measures that the region would take collectively to soften the impact on CARICOM nationals.
He told us that the Committee of Central Bank Governors of the region has been given the mandate to come up with a plan for the financial sector by the end of March.
Trinidad & Tobago president, Patrick Manning, also presented a report today on the upcoming 5th Summit of the Americas, which his country is hosting on behalf of CARICOM from April 17 to 19 – a conference that will see the coming together of all 34 countries of the Americas, and the noted presence of US President Barack Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama – a visit that will no doubt spark major excitement in the Caribbean.
The delegates today also discussed the dire situation of crime in the region, as well as border security.
At the end of the day, the big question is how this would all translate to tangible benefits for the man and woman of the Caribbean.
“I think that when heads have an agreement here and take regional decisions, to a large extent some of the roadblocks have to do with implementation at the national level,” said Greene. “And many hurdles have to be overcome, like for example, Antigua is having an election today and depending on where that election goes, it might mean starting again in trying to get Antigua on board with some of the things, but hopefully these are things that we can overcome...”
Four states are not represented at the CARICOM meeting: Antigua & Barbuda, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Grenada and Haiti.
A representative of Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, current chair of the Central American Integration System, is due to attend the meetings in order to discuss the region’s linkages with Central America – a region to which Belize provides an important door for the rest of CARICOM.
“The outcome of the deliberations here over the next few days has the potential to create a significant impact, not only throughout our community but on the wider hemispheric and global plane,” said Prime Minister Barrow.
Adding a touch of humor to his main address this morning, Barrow commented that, “The notion has even been advanced that Belize’s magnificent Barrier Reef may well prove to be the symbolic shoals on which CARICOM runs aground. But reports of our death are an exaggeration. Instead let the restorative powers of this land, the elixir of its ancient civilization, work their magic. We must come away from this meeting with the renewal of energies and the reaffirmation of purpose that our CARICOM citizens both demand and deserve.”
Apart from hosting the 20th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, Belize yesterday hosted a special meeting of the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee at the same venue.
On Wednesday, CARICOM’s Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington, witnessed the launch of the Belize Coalition of Service Providers – the 8th in the region.
Belize is also gearing up to replace its old passport with a new CARICOM passport, also as a part of its commitment to integration in CARICOM. Barrow’s announcement of his administration’s support for the CCJ is the latest move towards implementing the CARICOM agenda.
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