Caribbean Press Releases
SPEECH DELIVERED BY DR EDWARD GREENE, ASSISTANT
SECRETARY-GENERAL, HUMAN AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY
SECRETARIAT, AT THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTE/WOODROW WILSON CENTER
CONFERENCE, WASHINGTON DC, 24 MARCH 2009
Theme: Caught in a Global Hurricane Debating the Caribbean’s Development Challenges in an Uncertain World
This
Conference is most timely and its theme, appropriately expressive of
the daunting prospects facing the Caribbean as it confronts several
challenges and prepares for the epic Fifth Summit of the Americas to be
held in Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago. The Summit is being planned
and implemented as a CARICOM hosted event in Trinidad and Tobago. The
Summit of the Americas process coordinated by the Government of
Trinidad & Tobago in Port-of-Spain has made every effort to broaden
the debate to include the Private Sector, Civil Society and Youth. The
discussions at this Conference focus on topics that form and integral
part of the agenda of the Summit of Americas and therefore provide a
good opportunity for this esteemed forum to lend its highly respected
voice to the debate of critical issues of relevance to the Caribbean
and the Hemisphere.
In this regard, the pleasure is mine to
bring you greetings from and address you on behalf of H.E Edwin
Carrington Secretary General of the Caribbean Community who is unable
to be here due to a very demanding schedule that goes beyond the
boundaries of our discussions to day
But the boundaries of our
discussions at this Conference are fathomless in scope and depth given
the enormity of the challenges proscribed by the theme, Caught in the
Global Hurricane: Debating the Caribbean Development Challenges in an
Uncertain World. I have therefore chosen to construct the boundaries of
my presentation to establish, albeit briefly, the elements of the
global hurricane, to identify a few of the major development challenges
and then, to provide a range of responses or coping mechanisms for the
Caribbean Community which is currently moving towards the
implementation of the CSME by 2015, recognising the variable geometry
of integration that is configured to accommodate sub-regional groupings
like OECS and other networks for trade and functional co-operation.
Elements of the Global Hurricane
The
dimensions of this global hurricane on which I will focus are
three-fold: the economic and financial meltdown, climate change and
crime and security.
It is quite clear that the current global
economic and financial crisis maybe likened to a global hurricane whose
tidal waves portend to serious damages to Caribbean unless urgent
countervailing actions for mitigation and adaptation are undertaken. It
has already shaken the edifices of the strongest economies in the
World, resulted in the collapse of a range of enterprises in the US,
Europe, many of the emerging economies and also developing ones, more
so due to the pervasive philosophy of liberalism that has proscribed
the organization and management of international business and finance
including the structures of governance within international and
multilateral agencies that have nurtured liberalism and neoliberalism.
These arrangements have no doubt established principles and rules for
regulating the new global environment. At the same time it has
stimulated the tensions and conflicts, among countries and regions due
to the inequities and inequalities in application, implications and
impact. The playing field is certainly not level.
Besides the
financial crisis I could think of no better or more salient
illustrations of issues that impact simultaneously and negatively on
poverty, social relations, environmental degradation and economic
development than those identified with Climate Change and natural
disasters and with crime and security linked to illegal drugs, firearms
and terrorism. They help us to focus on the causes and effects of the
emerging and escalating crises (sic global hurricanes).
Over the
last century, records have shown as anomalous warning of global
atmospheric temperatures which have been paralleled by the growth of
anthrogenic green house gases (GHG) and emissions. The Human
Development Report (2007) identified 2o Carbon dioxide (CO2) as the
threshold for climate change. It also explained why we have less than a
decade to change course and start living within a sustainable carbon
budget identified at 14.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per annum
for the remainder of the 21st Century. Currently emissions are running
at twice this level. If therefore these trends continue they will set
in motion processes that can lead to temperature increases of 5o CO2 or
above by the end of this century – roughly similar to temperature
changes since the last ice age1.
It is also important to
underscore that as greenhouse gases build up in the atmosphere, so have
temperatures and sea level rises. The Postdam Institute in Germany has
reported that sea levels have risen by an average of 1.8 mm per year
since 1961, rising to 3.1 mm per year since 1993. This is a cause for
great concern for the Caribbean, given that the Region is identified as
one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. The frequency of
natural disasters in the Region and the significant costs both in terms
of the loss of life and economic wealth indicate that every effort
should be made to establish a mechanism to support the development of a
climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction mechanism to
address the special circumstances in the Caribbean.
The global
economic crisis is directly and indirectly connected to the concerns of
crime, drugs and terrorism as illicit trafficking, transnational crime
and terrorism involve activities that are festered by those who make
fortunes by preying on the their fellow human beings. Just as the US
government put together a massive 700 Billion toxic assets relief
programme (TARP) to help stabilize its financial system and unfreeze
credit markets, so too a similar massive and collective assault on
drugs and crime in our hemisphere is required to stem their further
escalation and further erosion of our security.
Just as the
financial meltdown , which experts now admit was simmering since
December 2007, quickly sparked into an economic recession and rapidly
spread around the world producing systemic shocks to globalization, so
is it possible that the smoldering cinders of drugs and crime fan the
flames of ruin and destruction of humanity around the globe, of which
Mumbai killings in late December 2008 and the terrorist attempts
involving Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan are the latest outrage,
since 9/11
So what are the Challenges and responses to these three elements of the global hurricane?
Strategies for dealing with the Global Financial Crisis
Already the effects of the global financial crisis are being felt in the productive and financial sectors2 in the Caribbean.
There
are reportedly drastic fall offs in tourist arrivals and room occupancy
rates, by as much as two-thirds in some locations. These have
implications also for tourist related entertainment industries and
complementary services like airline and taxi transportation as well as
the construction industry. Consequently hotel owners in the Bahamas for
example, laid off 1200 workers in the last six months of 2008 and 300
so far in the first two months of 2009.
In the non-food
commodities sector for example, declining global demand and related
fall in petroleum and petrochemical products have forced Trinidad and
Tobago producers of ammonia, methanol and urea to shut down operations
and bring forward maintenance work. In addition the state owned oil
producer, Petrotrin, reported a loss of US $36 M in 2008, after
recording a US$ 366M profit in 2007. In this context the Government has
announced a downsizing in planned expenditure by US$900M as a result of
the fall in crude oil prices below the US$70 threshold price on which
government projections were made.
In Jamaica, all expansion
projects in the Bauxite/alumna industry have been halted as foreign
investment from both Alcoa and Rusal (USA conglomerates) have dried up.
Interestingly President Chavez, of Venezuela is expected to take
similar action. The Jamaican–Brazilian sugar divestment project has
fallen apart as Brazilian purchasers have been unable to find a source
of funding in the USA to close the deal. In Guyana, the timber and
woodworking industries have also reported a slow down.
The
Caribbean Community has not been passive in its approach to the crisis.
As early as November 2008 when the Bureau of CARICOM Heads of
Government met in Antigua and Barbuda, Members States were urged to
take prudential measures in the areas of foreign exchange reserves,
deposit insurance, capitalization ratio, local assets, ratio, cross
border supervision and supervision of non banks such as insurance
companies. It was understood at that time that Member States may need
to seek multilateral assistance to engage in counter cyclical policies
that may include changing the composition of bank lending toward more
productive and export related activities, streamlining contingency
planning with respect to the financial and non financial sectors and
undertake public investment that facilitate production of tradable
goods but at the same time aid the most vulnerable groups in the
population This framework for action is most reasonable as a
theoretical construct. Yet the tide had already turned as manifested in
the collapse of one of two of the major financial conglomerates – CLICO
and Stamford Associates - in the Region.
In practice the Bureau
recognized the need for Member States to take concerted action in
supporting the proposals of “certain like minded countries and
institutions for systemic changes in the global and financial
architecture” related to enhanced democratization, regulation, resource
mobilization and disbursement. With respect to disbursement, it was
argued that IMF resources related to the special drawing rights should
be enlarged and that greater emphasis be placed on approaches for
emerging adjustment requirements and less on deflationary and other
stifling conditionality and quota contributions. The current
quota-based approach results in grossly inadequate fund capacity to
lend to small countries like the Caribbean.
In addition the
Bureau urged the developed countries to adopt the outstanding
prerequisites for assisting countries like those Caribbean to sustain
viability in the face of global adversity.
* First to realize the goal of aid commitment of 0, 7% of GDP;
* Second, to reverse the practice of graduating out of concessionary
borrowing category developing countries like those in the Caribbean
based on mere per capita criteria; and
* Third to orient the
international framework for managing debt overhang at the international
level, thereby accommodating economies that are susceptible to external
shocks of the “global hurricanes” that especially affect small
vulnerable economies, classified as highly indebted middle income
countries.
Regional Climate
Change Advocating for Migation and Adaptation.
With
regard to Climate Change it is clear to me that pursuing mitigation,
adaptation and resource mobilization strategies are essential and
require a regional approach if the Community is to succeed in the maze
of Climate change negotiating theatres and agendas. For this purpose,
the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre was established as an
implementation agency for the Region’s strategic framework and more
recently, the CARICOM Task Force on Climate Change and Development was
inaugurated to define and address the Region’s Climate Change agenda
for the negotiations leading up to the 2012 Post-Kyoto Climate Change
architecture as well as to provide support and representation for the
Community with respect to critical sectors affected by climate change.
The
Task Force has placed emphasis on Adaptation, Mitigation and
Information and Communication. In this regard it has established close
ties with the Alliance for Small Island States ably chaired by Grenada
and which is currently preparing for further negotiations in the next
sessions of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I
Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) and the Ad Hoc Working Group
on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention in Bonn at this
present time Our negotiators will address two issues:
* What should be the global target for greenhouse emissions reductions post-2012;
* Who should bear the burden for these reductions?
It
must be recognized that energy and climate change policies are
intricately linked to mitigation strategies which provide opportunities
to diversify our energy portfolio, with respect to electricity
generation, at the national and regional levels, The deployment of
renewable energy technologies, such as wind, solar, geothermal and
hydro-electric power and other sectors, such as the transport provides
a good opportunity for the Caribbean through the R&D capability of
its Universities to take the lead with the support of the private
sector3.
In addressing the high-level segment of COP-14 in
Poznan, in December 2008, United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon
stated that while the world faces dual crises, namely the global
financial crisis and climate change, investing in green technologies
was one means of solving both problems at the same time. This view is
being echoed by the new US administration which has made renewable
energy a centrepiece of its economic recovery package.
A New Regional Architecture for Crime and Security
Turning
to crime and security, the Caribbean Region, in particular the
Caribbean Community is taking the necessary steps to avert the
escalating crises, but not always achieving an appropriate level of
success.
The Caribbean Region exhibits among the highest crime
rates per capita in the World. The level of crime in some Caribbean
countries, chief among which Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Trinidad
and Tobago, are startling. Despite these challenges, concerted efforts
are being made to combat the ill effects of drugs and crime. The
collective response which preceded 9/11 but consolidated because of it,
is fully illustrated in the establishment of the Task Force on Crime
and Security in 2000, and the evolution of thinking that has now
ingrained security as the fourth pillar of the Community along side
economic trade, foreign policy relations and functional cooperation.
The
design of a new architecture for crime and security in 2005 resulting
in the institutionalization of the Council for National Security and
Law Enforcement (CONSLE), the Security Policy Committee (SEPAC) and the
Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMAPCS); these together
with Regional Security System now headquartered in St Lucia provide a
consolidated network that allows the Region to think and act
collectively. While there are challenges mainly related to the lack of
resources and facilities, the results of acting collectively are
undeniably positive.
One outstanding example is the Security
systems put in place for Cricket World Cup 2007 which ushered in a safe
and secure zone for the thousands of visitors and dignitaries to the
Caribbean over an eight week period. The legacy of world cup included
the joint regional communications center, the advanced passenger
information system and the regional intelligence fusion center - all
pillars of a viable security mechanism that will no doubt be dealt with
in greater detail in the panel dedicated to this subject at this
Conference
What however must be highlighted are the efforts
being made to give effect to its crime and security strategy by
devising legislation and treaties to deal with border security,
maritime regulations, and a justice protection system. In the final
analysis effective implementation of these systems is subverted by
external forces and circumstances beyond the control of the Region. The
Caribbean is sandwiched between the largest producers of cocaine to the
South and the largest consumer country to the North
How for
example does the Region cope with the onslaught of returning deportees
who have honed their criminal skills in the metropolis often with
little or no ties to the Caribbean to which they are returned? How does
the Region build capacity when such a large proportion of our skilled
labour force tend to migrate to the US, Canada and Europe? How does the
Region invest in the required infrastructure to combat crime when 75
percent of our tourists, according to UNECLAC, come from economies that
are in recession?
It is clear that the policies to deal
adequately with crime and security must be multidimensional in scope
and must be reinforced by a spirit of international cooperation. After
all, crime and security is an international problem requiring
international solutions What the West Indian Commission wrote in 1992
is still valid today. It called on us: “to be active in promoting a
system of international security that no longer holds the Region
hostage to the vulnerability of smallness or jeopardizes its
development through the need for major military expenditure"4. It was a
call for a pan Caribbean approach to establish comprehensive strategic
partnerships with extra regional forces as a deliberate regional
security strategy.
The Primacy of Foreign Policy
What
emerges out of the sketch of the elements I have identified with the
global hurricane is that it is really global. Consequently the
Caribbean Community is correct in advocating for a global solution.
The
financial crisis for example which emerged in the third quarter of last
year, affecting the banking system is now a global economic crisis
affecting jobs and livelihoods. The Washington Summit in November 2007
agreed on a 47 point action plan. The London Summit scheduled for April
2 will bring together leaders of the world’s major economies. The
demonstration of collective commitment and international cooperation
and coordination is essential, if recovery is to be achieved. But the
London Summit will only be meaningful if it comes up with a plan to
significantly impact developing countries and the MDGs and if it adapts
a package of measures to address the need of the poorest and most
vulnerable countries. How poised and prepared is the Community to
influence this process.
The interests of CARICOM are tied to the Community’s major objectives:
* ensuring the improved welfare of its citizens through the adoption of
social and economic policies that enhance and sustain its development.
* preserving its territorial integrity and security in the face of
transnational threats and ensuring public security at a time of rising
crime; and
* continued stability.
* Exploring new options for trade and diplomacy
The major threats to the Community as we have seen result from:
* transnational crime – illicit trafficking in drugs, small arms, persons, money laundering;
* rising domestic crime;
* the negative effects of climate change and natural disasters; and
* vulnerability to external economic shocks and inimical policies of external partners.
These
are fully recognized in the Fifth Summit of America process which
clearly addresses the spirit of any regional and hemispheric agenda
designed to respond to challenges from global crises. Its outcome
document is intended to speak to the need for securing our citizen’s
future by promoting human prosperity, energy security and environmental
sustainability
At the same time, the international system is
changing profoundly and rapidly. As the emerging nations rise, a
dramatic shift in power is underway, most recently symbolized by the
convening of the G20, and not as was traditionally the case, the G7 and
the Bretton Woods institutions, to confer on the deepening financial
and economic crisis. Though this power shift is essentially economic in
nature, it does hold political, diplomatic and other consequences.
The
hemispheric system is also undergoing its own deep changes as Brazil
increasingly emerges in a strategic leadership role despite competition
from the ideologically-tinged diplomacy of Venezuela. Notwithstanding
this rivalry, regionalization is deepening with the establishment of
institutions such as UNASUR that strengthens convergence among the
Latin American countries.
The Caribbean Community itself is
being drawn into this regionalization dynamic as illustrated by the
recent Latin America and Caribbean Integration and Development Summit
convened by Brazil, and the continued dynamism of the Rio Group which
now embraces all the Latin, Central American and Caribbean countries
with the recent admittance of Cuba. Non-traditional external actors -
China, Russia and Iran - are also increasingly making their presence
felt in the US’s immediate sphere of influence. The political and
economic implications of the potential for transformation of a
post-Fidel Castro Cuba and of the possibility of a thaw in US-Cuba
relations also need to be assessed.
Despite the above
geo-political changes, and the end of the unipolar period of the US on
the global stage, the United States remains the single global power
with unrivalled leadership and decision-making ability. The new US
administration has already made clear its intention to pay closer
attention to Latin America and the Caribbean. Consequently, the
promotion and protection of its interests will continue to be a
dominant factor in shaping the geopolitics in our Region and in the
wider hemisphere.
CARICOM has put in place some mechanisms that
can work It has identified counter cyclical and other mitigating
policies announced by Caribbean Governments over the last few months,
It has established a new crime and security architecture and has
identified a climate change strategy. It has recognized that in all
this a collaborative policy is imperative.
The main resources
that CARICOM enjoys in advancing its interests are diplomatic in nature
- the Community’s traditional position of taking the moral high ground
on regional and international issues, the skillful use of brainpower,
leveraging its friendly links with external partners, and advocacy.
These must all be factored into the lifeline for riding the crests of
the tidal wave to mitigate and overcome the global hurricane.
1 UN Human Development Report 2007
2
A detailed analysis has been undertaken by the Directorate of Trade
and Economic Integration, Caribbean Community Secretariat, February 2009
3 Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre. Draft paper on Caribbean Community Climate Change Strategy, October 2008
4 West Indies Commission. Time for Action, 1990, p278
5
Drawn from a paper by the Directorate of Foreign and Community
Relations, Caribbean Community Secretariat, CARICOM-US Relations : A
proposed Strategic Approach, January 2009
CONTACT: piu@caricom.org
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