| …Trinidadian counterpart calls for more evolved regional integration model By Gary EleazarThe Finance Ministers of Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana have both delivered to regional policy holders, developmental partners and academia representatives an examination of the state of affairs in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and its relationship to the global environment.Trinidadian Finance Minster Winston DookeranDr Ashni Singh and his Trinidadian counterpart, Winston Dookeran, were at the time addressing the second ever meeting of the Caribbean Development Roundtable (CDR) hosted at the Guyana International Conference Centre, in conjunction with the Executive Administration and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.Dr Singh immediately implored on the stakeholders to desist from wasting time seeking to redefine the challenges facing the region as these problems are well known and documented.The local Finance Minister also told the gathering that he is of the firm belief that the region needs to move away from making emotional arguments as it relates to the treatment of countries in the region when it comes to debt relief and debt servicing which should be balanced by each country with sustainable investment for development as well as spending on social sectors.Dr Singh said that he is convinced that the International Community will be unmoved by emotional arguments. As such the region should now be working towards formulating and articulating credible arguments for its case.“We must not just have another conversation on defining our problems and making another emotional argument….the International Community will not be convinced.”His Trinidadian counterpart, Dookeran, said that the CARICOM model which some 13 Caribbean Countries have signed on to and are making painstakingly slow progress is one that has to be revised given the shortcomings which have now come to the fore.Dookeran warned that it is imperative for the CARICOM nations to find a balance between economic and political logics and forge synchronization.“It’s essential to align economic and political logic,” said Dookeran even as he expanded on his argument that the CARICOM model has to evolve.Finance Minister Dr Ashni SinghDookeran says that the forum being held over the course of the two days in Guyana is nothing new but poses a very important opportunity for the Region.In prefacing his argument for a more evolved CARICOM model, Dookeran warned, “Unless we find the right formula to merge the logic of economics and politics we won’t get development right.”The gathering included representatives from the United Nation’s Framework as well as members of the diplomatic corps and representatives of International Financial Institutions.Dookeran reminded that the CARICOM model was premised on the European Union’s model which is fundamentally flawed for the region.In pointing out some of the flaws in the EU model Dookeran said, “We see what has happened in the global arena.”In giving his diagnosis, he said that the financial problems facing the EU right now were first classified as a private sector problem before evolving into a “sovereign” fiscal problem for countries such as France and Greece.He said that even the diagnosis of the EU’s problem still has its shortcomings. He described it as “a partial analysis of what was happening…It turned out to be a developmental problem.”Dookeran said that for the region to deal with its problems “we have to face up to political problems facing the country….the EU problems,” he said aptly illustrate his point.Dr Ashni Singh said that when the region copied the EU’s model, the problem that currently faces the region was not envisioned.This, he said, has now left CARICOM at a different cross-road to that of the EU.“We must reassess our direction to pursue,” said Dookeran even as he reminded that there is “no easy answer on how to address the problem but it must be answered.”According to Dookeran, “We may need to reassess the way we think about problems…go into new frontiers.”He used the opportunity as did his colleague Dr Singh, to lambaste the International Financial Institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank among others,Cheap Jerseys, all of whom, according to the Minister, attempt to assess the region’s problems through arithmetical computations and reflective ratios.Dookeran said that their method, while it does lend to understanding the state of affairs in a country does not point to a direction for which the country should move.Dr Singh was a little more critical of the methods being used by the IFI’s and gave an example of providing services to isolated communities in Guyana’s hinterland.Dr Singh said that there is no way that a true picture of the state of affairs can be determined by ratios, such as the spending on social services as against the Gross Domestic Product of a country.To illustrate his point, Dr Singh said that in Guyana there are communities where only a few hundred people may reside, but nonetheless the Guyana Government is committed to ensuring that they have equal access to social and other government services.He spoke of services related to health, sanitation and ICT related activities, which Dr Singh explained, would on paper and using certain arithmetical computation make the per capita expenditure appear exorbitant.Dr Singh however made no apology for the expenditure for remote communities saying that Government has and is committed to the goals and reminded that peculiarities such as this could not readily be appreciated using certain ratios.The Guyanese Finance Minister said that he has heard the appeal by ECLAC’s Executive Secretary Diane Quarless as it relates to what ECLAC can do for CARICOM.“I do believe the UN system and ECLAC have an important role to play in moving from emotional arguments of vulnerability to a more credible case of the plight of the Caribbean.” |
