Region seeking a more secure partnership with US

by Nelson King in Washington 22.JUN.07

As the much-anticipated Conference on the Caribbean opened Tuesday in Washington, Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says the event constitutes the commencement of a process to build a more secure and mature relationship between the United States and the region.{{more}}

In delivering the opening remarks at the World Bank, the Prime Minister, in his capacity as chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said “an admixture of existential bonds, realities, dreams and self-interest conspire to predispose and induce a common pursuit of an ennobling good neighbourliness, rooted in dignity, respect, and a better humanity.”

“Geography, history, and the sober realities of the contemporary world brought us together,” he said.

“No man, indeed, no woman, ought to put us asunder,” he added. “That should be our simple, but firm, resolve,” he added.

“The cynics may say that we are unequally yoked, but our ties are so manifest and enduring that, in this metaphoric marriage of true minds, we ought to look on tempests and never be shaken,” he continued.

Dr. Gonsalves said that has long been the dream in “our America” of leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson, José Marti, Simon Bolivar, Norman Washington Manley, Errol Barrow and Robert Milton Cato, adding that it is time now to turn that dream in to reality.

He said since CARICOM leaders met with former US President Bill Clinton in Barbados in 1997, much has changed in the world, identifying economic dislocations, particularly in the banana and sugar industries, international terrorism, drug-trafficking, and transnational crimes among those changes.

Stating that a declaration, with solemn commitments, was agreed upon in 1997, the Prime Minister said it would be hyperbolic to declare that it was given “practical life and meaning,” asserting that it was a failure.

“We ought never to make such an error of negligence, inadvertence or omission again in our implementation of agreed tasks,” he said.

Dr. Gonsalves said two responses are, therefore, possible: “first, roll over, do nothing and play dead – this is unacceptable; or, secondly, seek creatively to construct a modern competitive, post-colonial economy within the framework of a further ennoblement of our Caribbean civilization.”

He said the second, creative response involves, among other things, the deepening of regional integration through the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

The CARICOM chairman said the conference should also craft a “new and better language with which to articulate, in dignity and real meaning, the hopes, aspirations, and sensibilities of our enduring bonds.”

“We do not bring a laundry list of demands,” he said. “And we come not in supplication but in genuine friendship, which, historically, over the ages, been fertilized and watered by our unbreakable ties.”

The Prime Minister said while there have been hiccups, dissonance and disagreements in CARICOM-US relations, there has never been any hint of rupture, pointing out that as the region matures, it would be possible for CARICOM and the United States to “glimpse a glorious dawn before sunrise and secure real achievements before any proverbial sundown.”

“The issues before us are weighty and pregnant with a profound meaning for the lives of all our peoples in this hemisphere,” he said, identifying, among them, economic growth and sustainable development; human development and poverty; fair trade; functional cooperation in tourism, energy, financial services, disaster mitigation and preparedness, climate change; governance and democracy; and security.

Dr. Gonsalves said he was confident that the conference would not be written off by history as a “talk shop” or “photo opportunity.”

Instead, he said “uplifting practical outcomes will emerge.”

“But, we must all be committed to this quest for real accomplishments,” he said. “We are embarked on a great cause of building an enduring, mature relationship between friends and neighbours.

“And great causes are not won by doubtful men and women,” he added.

“Weeping may endure for a night; but it is joy, which cometh in the morning,” he ended.

Addresses were also given at the opening ceremony by Owen Arthur, prime minister of Barbados, Carlos Gutierrez, US Secretary of Commerce, Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary-General of the Organization of American States, Luis A Moreno, President of the Inter-American Development Bank and Graeme Wheeler, Managing Director of the World Bank.