Economic union of OECS a must

The talk of regional unity has been going on decades and has often disappointed – but the leaders of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) member countries are convinced that the latest push towards unity will not fail.{{more}}

During a video conference that was beamed to the eight countries of the OECS on Thursday, July 23rd, the addresses by the various Prime Ministers on the OECS economic union and the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) eight point stabilization and growth plan suggested that the quest for economic and ultimately political union is not an option but a certain reality.

St Lucian Prime Minister Stephenson King, who joined the discussion from Taiwan, where he was on government business, said it this way: “We as a region owe it to ourselves to stop the naysayers who declare that we can never fully integrate.”

“Citizens of the OECS, this can no longer be about guarding our own little corner or our own little kingdom,” he declared.

Delivering the feature address on the night was St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, who spoke from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s (ECCB) agency office at Frenches House in Kingstown.

Dr Gonsalves, who received kudos for his leadership of the joint ECCU/OECS task force which was established to respond the global financial crisis, painted a worst case scenario about the immediate future that the OECS is marching into.

According to Dr Gonsalves’ worst case picture, the tourism sector, which is the key industry in the OECS countries’ economies will be hit by a 16.2 per cent decline in visitor arrivals this year followed by a further 4 per cent decline next year.

Additionally, foreign direct investment will be down by 29.1 per cent, as projects slow to a snail’s pace or come to a screeching halt.

“The global financial crisis is threatening the resilience of our financial system,” Gonsalves said.

He suggested that that the overall situation could lead to more unemployment and put a real strain on the countries’ social safety net systems.

Earlier in the programme, Governor of the ECCB, Sir Dwight Venner compared the financial challenges facing the region to a category four or five storm.

He however said that the OECS region will emerge from the crisis more integrated and coordinated than ever before.

Sir Dwight noted the cooperation shown by the OECS governments in dealing with the fallout of the collapse of the Allen Stanford Empire, which left the Stanford owned Bank of Antigua reeling.

Five indigenous banks: The St Kitts & Nevis National Bank, The Bank of St Lucia, The Antigua Commercial Bank, the National Bank of Dominica and the National Commercial Bank of St Vincent and the Grenadines, stepped forward and took over operations at the troubled institution.

The urgency of the situation and the need for a united approach going forward was also passionately borne out by Grenadian Prime Minister Tillman Thomas.

Thomas used his short statement to stress that a commitment to regional unity must come with willingness by all involved to embrace a supra-national structure.

According to Thomas, all the plans being developed to chart the course of the OECS going forward must be pushed by an empowered Central Authority which has “creditability and authority” and could enforce binding decisions on individual states.(KJ)