IMPACT ON ST. LUCIA

EDWARD HARRIS AT LARGE!

SAINT LUCIA TAKING A STAND AND MOVING FORWARD

By: Edward Harris

Well! Well! What is going on? The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Hon. Patrick Manning, has a new initiative that is causing some concerns in the minds of many of us across the Caribbean. Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to forge an Economic Union by 2011 and move forward into a Political Union by 2013. The experts are at work to refine the proposal as Prime Minister Manning forges ahead with the initiative, personally visiting capitals of Member States of Caricom and meeting with the Nations’ Leaders to discuss his new initiative.

If we assume that the MOU is a commitment by the four leaders to a process, then it is understandable that at the appropriate time discussions will ensue on the way forward. Until a document is available for evaluation, we will have to trust our leaders and applaud them for taking yet another initiative to bring the people of the region closer. Guyana and Barbados were represented by their Foreign Ministers.

At least one thing is certain: Prime Minister Patrick Manning wants to help his people and I believe that given our support, he will outperform the other countries that are currently supporting our various initiatives to better the lot of our people. Let us give the Manning initiative a real chance and at the right time, debate it as aggressively as we are now debating the Economic Partnership Agreement being proposed by the European Union. I believe that at the root of the decision to go this route, is the frustration with the pace things are done at the level of Caricom and the lack of political will of the nations’ leaders on a number of pressing issues.

The opposition parties in all the countries whose leaders have signed the MOU will complain that they were not consulted and will need to understand the document and possibly sign on together with the Government, if the ideas are in keeping with their aspirations for their people. It is yet to be seen how the new initiative will affect the existing Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME). If the Agreement is well crafted with the objective to supplement the CSME, it will be a great initiative. Participation is open to all member states.

Meanwhile, the EPA, which was supposed to be signed on September 2, 2008, is in limbo. In recent weeks, some countries were ready to go ahead and sign. Especially in the case of Barbados, reason now seems to prevail and there is definitely a great degree of uncertainty surrounding the signing. We now hear about a summit in Barbados and an appeal to the French President to intervene with the hope of getting the Europeans to renegotiate some aspects of the EPA.

Some experts feel that signing should not be delayed, while others feel that it is better to have no deal than to have a bad one that will haunt us for decades to come. Hon. Stephenson King, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia will definitely not be signing on September 2, 2008. Those who will not heed the call of their people to hold back on signing, can go ahead. The Europeans were smart enough to allow individual countries to sign on to the agreement and did not insist on collective signing. However, nothing is certain until September 2, 2008 passes. It would have been great to give the new Head of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery – Mr. Henry Gill, a pass on his recommendations on the EPA but there are more powerful voices of a contrary opinion. Let us wait and see how this plays out.

Finally, it is my hope that the Caribbean Diaspora supports Obama and helps to put him in the White House. Your relatives and friends at home in the Caribbean are expecting you to do the right thing – Vote for Barack Obama in November, 2008!

Keep the Faith, God is in Charge, Dream Big and Expect Miracles Everyday!!!

Edward Harris: Real Estate CyberSpace Specialist (RECS). Freelance Journalist, Biblicist, Business & PR Consultant, Realtor, Networker. Private Sector & CSR Advocate, Motivational Speaker

E-mail: eaharrisdestiny@gmail.com

Website: http://www.stluciasimplybeautiful.com