Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders opened their annual summit here late Thursday with the global economic crisis overshadowing the region's future development. But the leaders were warned that while the crisis has severely affected their economies, it was also providing an opportunity for closer collaboration and according to Caricom Secretary General Edwin Carrington "let us not waste a good crisis".
He told the opening ceremony at the National Cultural Centre in the centre of the capital, that 20 years ago, the Caribbean had started preparing for such an eventuality through the Grand Anse Declaration that spoke to initiatives such as the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME)–the highlight of which is the free movement of goods, skills, labour and services across the 15-member grouping.
He said that the time for preparation had long past and the leaders must now engage in a "free and frank debate" as to the future direction of the integration movement. "The debate must lead to a rekindling of the hope for our people of the Community," he said, urging the leaders to "send a clear message to the world that there is now a strengthened Caribbean region."
Outgoing Caricom chairman and Prime Minister of Belize Dean Barrow said he was disappointed that the developed countries, which through their policies and actions had brought about the global economic and financial crisis, did not find it prudent to attend the just concluded United Nations conference that examined the situation. He said that while the regional integration process had been made difficult by the global crisis, he was also concerned "about the failure of the developed world to discharge their obligations to us".
He took the opportunity to compliment the regional countries for their strategies so far in dealing with the crisis, while stating that in some cases they were commendable. Grenada's Prime Minister Tillman Thomas noted that the crisis had negatively impacted upon some of the main pillars of the regional economies such as tourism, construction and services. He said coupled with that situation is the high unemployment and a significant decrease in remittances.
Thomas said it was therefore necessary for "the region to devise a strategy to deal with the crisis," warning "we either sink or float". Thomas said that since the signing of the Grand Anse Declaration "the region is responding positively to the challenges", even as he made reference to some of the more contentious issues such as free movement of persons across the region that is likely to dominate the four-day summit.
Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said that the global financial and economic crisis had brought the region to the "crossroads of survival or perish", adding that never in the history of the Community has it had to deal with a recession that is comparable to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Spencer told the leaders that they must ensure that the confidence imposed upon them by the people of the Caribbean is not lost as the region deals with the crisis, adding "as leaders we are asking our people to make sacrifices, we too have to do so".
He said that decision adopted must be "swift and co-ordinated" and that "co-operation must be our guiding principle in order to emerge from this crisis".
In his address, Spencer defended his country's decision to join the Venezuela-led Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), saying it "doesn't signal a wavering of our commitment to Caricom and the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States)".
Host leader and President of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo said he was aware that over the years, Caribbean people had become disenchanted with the regional integration process and that feeling had become even more "acute since the global crisis". The incoming Caricom chairman said the crisis was threatening the future of the Caribbean and had even overshadowed some of the other challenges the region has been facing since the decision to establish the regional grouping. "The journey has not always been easy...but throughout all of this we have persevered," he said.
Jagdeo has, in recent years, emerged as the Caribbean's lead spokesman on climate change issues and he would have been heartened by the warnings issued by his fellow Caribbean leaders as they spoke of the impact of climate change on their economies and the need for the Copenhagen summit in December to arrive at solutions that would take the interest of the region.
Spencer has warned that the region "needed to face the challenge head on" and that "the stakes are high. "The region cannot settle for any agreement," he said, outlining a number of recommendations the region would want the December summit to adopt, including low carbon emission by 2015 and significant funds to boost the fight by small developing countries against global warming.
During the opening ceremony, former Jamaica Prime Minister PJ Patterson,a "committed regionalist," was awarded the region's highest award, "The Order of the Caribbean Community", for "his outstanding contribution to the region, particularly in the area of external trade negotiations". The leaders of Montserrat, Haiti and St Kitts and Nevis were not present at the opening ceremony. (CMC)�