PM: ‘It cannot be business as usual!’

“It cannot be business as usual!”
This is the message that Prime Minister Dr.Ralph Gonsalves drove home to his fellow Heads of Government within the Organization of American of American States (OECS) sub-region,{{more}} as they convened in St.Vincent and the Grenadines for the 53rd Meeting of the OECS Authority.

At the opening of the three day session held at the Peace Memorial Hall on Wednesday evening, Gonsalves challenged the Authority to develop a range of strategic measures vital for the development of the OECS.

“This meeting of the OECS Authority is of a strategic sense a watershed event in seeking to clear the pathways to take the OECS to the next level, a higher level of integration in practice” said Gonsalves.

As the OECS progresses towards an economic union, Prime Minister Dr.Ralph Gonsalves said the sub-region has real challenges to meet as well as solve.

“Governance in the OECS cannot continue to be a university seminar,” he charged.

Gonsalves highlighted some of the socio economic challenges that confront the OECS, such as the fallout from the global recession which has considerably affected the sub-region, the alterations in the market regime and market conditions of the OECS’ banana exports from the Windward Islands to the UK, the collapse of the sugar industry in St. Kitts and Nevis, the externally imposed strictures on the sub-region’s financial services sector, huge government expenditure to fight international terrorism, rise in criminal violence associated with drug trafficking, sharp increase in oil prices and the impact of climate change.

On the issue of climate change, Gonsalves said the people of the OECS are now beginning to feel the adverse effects of it.

“We are on the frontline of the threatened consequences of global warming, to which we have not contributed at all,” said Gonsalves.

He said developed countries don’t like to hear smaller states pin the blame on them for being largely in part responsible for global warming, but China, India, North America and Western Europe have put the OECS region in an awful position as regards climate change.

“I want to say this in the presence of those ambassadors who are here from any of those countries.We have heard on so many occasions that we are supposed to get monies for adaptation to assist us in mitigating the deleterious effects of climate change, but we are yet to see the resources.

“This is not a matter which is one where we are begging. If you come into my premises as a matter of common law and bring substances harmful to my existence, I can sue you in the international courts,” said Gonsalves.

Gonsalves used the opportunity to challenge his fellow leaders not to lose sight of their duty to serve the people.

“It is so easy to lose sight of this. You can be busy, busy, doing so many things that you forget what your basic mission is about,” said Gonsalves.

He said even though the basic legal treaty requirements of the Revised Treaty establishing the OECS Economic Union have been operationally satisfying, it is still a work in progress.

Outgoing Chair of the OECS, Prime Minister Dr. Denzel Douglas of St.Kitts and Nevis, said with the achievements accomplished by the OECS thus far, he envisages a more robust and resilient organization, capable of meeting head on the challenges that will be placed in its way by the changing circumstances.

He said to date, some OECS member states have been unable, for a variety of reasons, to accede to the Revised Treaty of Basseterre, establishing the OECS Economic Union.

Douglas expressed concern that the situation could lead some in the region and beyond to believe that they could operate two tiers of membership and engagement in the OECS.

He said such actions run counter to the spirit of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre.

Dr. Len Ishmael, Director General of the OECS, thanked Prime Minister Dr. Denzel Douglas of St.Kitts and Nevis for his resolute and steadfast leadership over the last two years.

She congratulated incoming Chairman of the OECS, Prime Minister Stephenson King of St.Lucia, for his unwavering commitment to the integration of the region, so much so that he agreed to take the leadership of the organization despite the pressures of an election year.

Ishmael also brought to the fore the issue of climate change, noting that everyday in different corners of the world, “we see the mounting evidence of nature in fury.”

Ishmael said over the last few years, the people of the OECS have witnessed an organization which has gained stature and and profile not only regionally, but internationally.

She said the commitment by development partners is at an all time high.

“We see this vividly demonstrated in the enormous amount of measurable development partner support which has increased steadily over the last several years. From a little over $11m in 2003, development partner support to the OECS region through projects and programmes executed by the Secretariat rose to $16m in 2004, $19m in 2005, $20m in 2006, $23m in 2007, $24m in 2008, $29m in 2009, $31m in 2010 and almost $53m for 2011, an increase of almost five times over the last eight years,” said Ishmael.

She said the period of unprecedented commitment to the OECS, and finally, recognition of its legitimacy as an integration movement in its own right, is also demonstrated in the steady numbers of Third Countries which now have an interest in presenting Ambassadors to the OECS.

Ismael said while the Revised Treaty of Basseterre is far from perfect, it will be perfected over time, as will the union between the islands.