OECS, CARICOM and CSME: Wise counsel needed

During the 77th Session of the OECS Assembly which concluded in St Vincent last week, serious issues were raised in respect of the trade and economic relations between the smaller countries of the Eastern Caribbean and their larger counterparts with whom they share membership in CARICOM. This has been an age-old complaint which dates back not just to the formation of CARICOM a half of a century ago and even before that, being a product of colonial division.

Long years of what the OECS countries consider to be neglect and discrimination have built in us a sense of frustration and distrust not only among OECS leaders, but even more alarmingly, among the people of the OECS states. Many of us question the value of CARICOM to our economic and social development and whether the regional arrangement is not a lop-sided one in favour of the larger and more developed economies. This pent-up frustration led to public statements of dissatisfaction by some participants in the OECS.

Prominent among these was the newly elected Chairman of the OECS Authority St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves. He has a big reputation not just regionally, but internationally as well, a noted proponent of regional integration. Yet what he had to say publicly must have ruffled many feathers in regional capitals.

The Vincentian leader listed several outstanding complaints which not only continue to worry the Eastern Caribbean, but are of such magnitude and long-standing duration that he was prepared to complain publicly. He said that if these are not addressed expeditiously, the small island states may well have to not only review their relations within CARICOM, but perhaps to reach the stage of withdrawing from the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

Among the distressing lingering issues that he mentioned were the reluctance of some larger states to implement provisions for free movement of labour and capital in the region; the stubborn refusal to implement measures for special treatment to smaller, disadvantaged economies even while we argue at the international level for such treatment for CARICOM states as a whole; the bias of trade policies intra-regionally towards the larger economies; as well as the stubborn refusal of regional financial institutions to heed and address the needs of the small states.

These were but some of the long-standing grouses but there were also more specific ones. For instance, St Vincent and the Grenadines has long been a provider of fresh food to Trinidad via weekly shipments. However, when the T&T economy ran into trouble some years ago, the government of that country instituted several foreign exchange measures which severely disadvantaged Vincentian farmers and traders. Despite the volume of complaints from SVG, the situation has changed little even though the Trinidad dollar is in real value little better “than Monopoly money”, as Dr Gonsalves derisively put it. He also listed other outstanding matters relating to T&T, the non-payment of a substantial portion of the CLICO debt owed to Vincentians; the continued monopoly of control over the OECS airspace; and persistent efforts to undermine OECS flour manufacturers by powerful interests in the larger economies. There is no doubt that these issues and others affecting individual states have tested all patience and tolerance in the OECS. Yet, despite our frustrations, it is vital that wise counsel prevail. As it stands now there are those within our Caribbean space who, at the instigation of external forces and misguided elements within our societies, are all too prepared to take advantage of our inter-island contradictions to undermine the very levels of unity that we have taken so long to develop. We must insist that our voices be heard, and concerns addressed without permanently damaging regional unity. Let us remember that fateful utterance by the late Dr Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago, that ”One from ten, leaves nought”, and the age-old saying, “When you slip you slide”.