Good advice from Deputy Secretary General of the Organisation of American States, Albert Ramdin, to Caricom leaders to unite in the best interest of the sub-region to achieve their objectives at the 5th Summit of the Americas. And Caricom leaders have clearly anticipated and deemed in their best interests such a course of action – they meet tomorrow in special caucus, presumably to fine tune their approach to issues on the formal agenda and those they would want to raise with other sub-regions and individual states of the hemisphere.

Today, another sub-region of the Americas, the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean, led by the Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chavez and including Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba and Caribbean country, Dominica, is meeting in Caracas to devise its own issues and strategies for the Summit. Before President Obama arrives here he would have met with his Mexican counterpart and has already visited Canada and has its block support in Central America. In the circumstances, Caricom would do well to organise itself to be able to pursue matters that would be of value to its people.

Co-ordinator of the Summit, Luis Alberto Rodriguez, in his statements on the likely benefits to come out of the discussions, has placed reliance on the multilateral system of the hemisphere to provide the framework for the pursuit of matters after the leaders and delegations leave Port-of-Spain. That multilateral system is a substantial one, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organisation of American States, the Pan American Health Organisation, UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the World Bank and a range of other institutions. Indeed, Ambassador Rodriguez and host PM Patrick Manning have made the point that the elements of the declaration are tied into these institutions making the objectives highly implementable when the tent closes and the trail becomes cold.

Caricom leaders must know the trail to follow to be able to gain benefits; and they know very well, given the decades of experience in seeking to get benefits out of EU agreements, that the road has to be circumvented with its hundreds of roadblocks in the way. The business community meeting here at the Business Forum with many significant business leaders from throughout the hemisphere must seize the opportunity. The moment is even more conducive to perceiving of ways out of the clawing global recession. It is in times like these, entrepreneurs of quality rise to the surface because of their ability to see what does not appear readily on the surface.

Alternative energy, non-communicable diseases, public security and financial and economic possibilities are the major issues in the declaration and on the formal agenda. Surely, there is sufficient grist amongst this family of issues for Caricom to work with. At the wider hemispheric level, closer and more amicable relations, shorn of any big stick wielding by the world’s only super-power, certainly the most powerful and influential nation in the region, the United States, must be an objective of the summiteers. The post-summit retreat on Sunday at the Diplomatic Centre would be the ground for such meeting and treating.

Even so leaders meet formally and informally in corridors, dining rooms at late night meetings and it is in such settings that agreement is reached to at least pursue bilateral and multilateral contacts that could eventually return benefit. Looking on, the national and regional community must not expect instant and very tangible returns, international relations and summits do not produce such rewards; it is a matter of process that has to be pursued.