Jul 2010 Financial News

Packed agenda for Caricom summit

Jul 05, 2010

MONTEGO BAY — Caricom’s four-day summit this week will be the first opportunity for Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to interact with her regional colleagues since the May 24 general election victory. Caricom leaders gathering in Jamaica this week for their annual summit are still struggling to recover from the two-year global economic and financial crisis that has taken a major toll on their individual economies. Especially hard hit have been the tourism industry and remittances from abroad. The Guyana-based Caricom Secretariat says that at least half of the 15-member grouping will record either zero or negative growth this year, while high unemployment and other factors are  likely to exacerbate the situation.

“This state of affairs cannot be separated from our continuing major social problems related to crime and security,” Caricom Secretary-General Edwin His economic adviser, Carrington told reporters ahead of the July 4-7 meeting. Dr Maurice Odle, added that a looming debt crisis and the oil spill in the Gulf  of Mexico would also be on the agenda.

CSME setbacks
Caricom countries have been working towards a Single Market and Economy (CSME) by the year 2015, but the initiative has “The goalpost on CSME inauguration keeps shifting as suffered several setbacks. a number of member states continue to falter in honouring their pledges to close the yawning gaps on implementation of treaty-based policies and programmes,” Dr Ralph Gonsalves, St Vincent says veteran Caribbean journalist Rickey Singh. and the Grenadines Prime Minister, a stalwart of the integration process, said he believes that Caricom could learn from the progress being made by the sub-regional Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), which recently signed a treaty establishing an economic union among themselves that provides Carrington for improved governance and deeper cooperation among member states. believes that this weekend’s summit, which coincides with Caricom’s 37th anniversary, will provide the impetus “as we embark on the second decade of the new millennium.”

EPA high on agenda
The meeting will no doubt be dominated by issues such as the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that the Caribbean signed with European nearly two years ago, negotiations with Canada for a new trade and development accord, and way to strengthen relations with the United The catastrophic January earthquake in Haiti and the pending States. presidential and legislative elections there are also matters that the regional Carrington said leaders will have to deal with during their Montego Bay summit. that the reconstruction of the only French- speaking member of Caricom has been a major focus and “demands that we all pitch in to bolster the efforts of the Haitian people.”

Climate change issues, particularly as the region gears up to attend a major meeting in Cancun, Mexico in November, will also be a major talking point, given “Every step must be the outcome of the Copenhagen conference last December. taken by the region to prepare for that meeting to ensure that the results, in particular the maximum rise in global temperature, do not exceed 1.5 degrees,” said Carrington. “The region’s mantra of ‘1.5 to stay alive’ is not a mere slogan for our islands and low-lying coastal states. Its achievement is vital A few regional leaders, however, will for our very survival,” he told reporters. be missing including Barbados’ ailing Prime Minister David Thompson, who on Friday last began a two month leave of absence; and Montserrat’s chief Minister Reuben Meade. (Caribbean360.com)


Source:
Kamla Persad-Bissessar
Trinidad Guardian
Monday July 5, 2010

http://guardian.co.tt/business/business/2010/07/05/packed-agenda-caricom-summit