Arthur wants more level playing field

by Trevor Yearwood 06.JUL.07

THE UNFAIR DISTRIBUTION of benefits in favour of Trinidad and Tobago is of concern to Prime Minister of Barbados Owen Arthur and came up for serious discussion when Caribbean Community heads of government met in Barbados earlier this week.{{more}}

This imbalance under the Single Market and Economy (CSME) was raised by Arthur on Sunday as he addressed the official opening of the 28th CARICOM Heads of Government Conference in the courtyard of the Parliament Buildings in Bridgetown before more than 350 people and a regional radio and television audience.

He said while Trinidad and Tobago was the main beneficiary of the expansion in intra-regional export, apparently only “a few countries” were carrying the weight of the community’s free movement of skills programme.

“Already, issues regarding the fair distribution of benefits from the CSME are surfacing,” Arthur said as he took over the chairmanship of CARICOM from St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves.

He pointed out that while intra-regional exports between 1995 and 2005 had grown from 13 per cent to over 20 per cent of the total exports of the region, “this growth has largely been to the benefit of one country – Trinidad and Tobago”.

He told the gathering of regional government chiefs, other ministers and members of the diplomatic community that this situation “is untenable”.

Arthur also raised concern about the spread of benefits from the programme that allows skilled people to travel freely through the region to work.

While over 4 000 skill certificates had been issued to support the movement, “there is a very uneven concentration, suggesting that only a few countries are carrying the weight of providing a market for the workers of the region”, Arthur said.

Another area of worry raised by the Barbados leader was the impact of intra-regional investment.

Most of the investments had taken the form of mergers and acquisition, rather than investment in new production capacity, Arthur reported.

“While some element of corporate consolidation is to be expected, it would not be desirable for the principal effects of capital mobility in the region to be reincarnation of the old regional corporate economic system in new institutional garb,” Arthur said.

However, Arthur was upbeat about the success prospects of the Barbados summit.

While the agenda was “ambitious”, progress made in bringing the CSME into existence “should give us the confidence to take the road least travelled – that of collaborative effort in developing our social systems, our common services and the institutions which directly affect the quality of life of our people,” Arthur commented.

Earlier, Gonsalves had appealed for a better deal for the troubled regional airline, LIAT.

He asked whether the region could afford “to throw away 50 years of LIAT”.

“The regional governments’ approach to LIAT will at this conference be a test of their seriousness,” he pointed out.

A few leaders missed the opening of the summit. They are the heads of government of St Lucia, The Bahamas, Jamaica, Suriname and Belize. (Nation)