In recent months challenges have arisen in CARICOM regarding the spirit and the law touching and concerning the freedom of movement of persons in accordance with the provisions of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
Under the Treaty the member-states of CARICOM commit themselves to the goal of free movement of their nationals within the Community [Article 45]. Further, under the Treaty [Article 46] member-states agreed, and undertook, as a first step towards achieving the goal of free movement of CARICOM nationals, to accord to the following categories of Community nationals the right to seek employment in their jurisdictions:
Each member-state has put in place a legislative and regulatory framework to comply with its Treaty commitments. In the case of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, we have issued skilled nationals’ certificates under the relevant legislation. This country abides by the letter and the spirit of the Treaty and our laws. Indeed, St. Vincent and the Grenadines goes way beyond the requisites of the Treaty to accommodate CARICOM nationals who are not entitled as yet to the right of employment under the Treaty.
Unfortunately, not every member-state of CARICOM is abiding by the letter and the spirit of their Treaty commitments. In one or two member-countries, the immigration authorities are dismissive of their countries’ Treaty commitments. My office receives heart-rending stories of Vincentian nationals who have been subjected to unfair, unlawful, unconscionable, and discriminatory treatment by some immigration authorities within member-states of CARICOM.
Accordingly, I have set up a Unit at the Office of the Prime Minister, manned by Mrs. Miriam Roache, to receive complaints of unfair, unlawful, unreasonable and discriminatory treatment of our nationals by immigration authorities in the CARICOM member-states.
Moreover, I call on my colleague Heads of State/Government to address the bundle of issues attendant on the “freedom of movement” matter, including that of contingent rights, most urgently. A failure and/or refusal to do so in a fair and reasonable manner is likely to invite the most deleterious consequences for the regional integration movement.
It is sad to note that in the 21st century, some responsible persons, including some political leaders, are stoking chauvinistic fires which are latent in our Caribbean societies. This has led, here and there, to an outpouring of a malignant xenophobia particularly against Guyanese, Jamaicans, Vincentians, St. Lucians and Grenadians. It must be stopped; if not CARICOM would shortly be rent asunder.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines stands to benefit materially and practically from CARICOM in two principal ways: Freedom of movement of persons; and access to monies from the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF). At present our nationals are unfairly harassed by immigration authorities hither and thither as they travel throughout the region. And the promise of the benefits from the Development Fund has so far been illusory. Accordingly, many Vincentians are beginning to ask: Where’s the beef in CARICOM? Where are the benefits? Are we to become only the dumping ground for manufacturing commodities of questionable quality and uncompetitive prices, protected by CARICOM rules and the Common External Tariff? Are we to be the locale for enterprises from other CARICOM countries, particularly the so-called More Developed Countries (MDCs) but our nationals discriminated against elsewhere? Is this the fate of the small island countries in CARICOM?
It is historically tempting for some to bash immigrants at times of domestic economic difficulties. But to do so against one’s own CARICOM brothers and sisters is surely unacceptable. It is both necessary and desirable to lift the quality of public discourse on this most important issue and avoid a race to the bottom of the lowest common denominator.
My government and I are deeply committed to CARICOM but we are left to wonder whether it would not be better for us to refrain from participating in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and focus on membership in CARICOM in terms of functional cooperation in education, health, climate change, the judiciary and the like, co-operation on security matters, and a continued co-ordination of foreign policy where practicable. This approach will dove-tail with our steadfast commitment to forging an OECS Economic Union and pushing for a deeper union, too, with Trinidad and Tobago.
My government is being patient with CARICOM and we will never lightly abandon the CSME. But the discriminatory antics against our nationals by some immigration authorities must stop. And the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) must become fully operational. The administrative dragon’s dance on the CDF must come to an end; and it must be open for business soonest!
I am sure, too, that in practically all these matters, my concerns are precisely those of the member-states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. Our people must be fully respected!
By Dr. The Hon. Ralph E. Gonsalves
Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Address delivered at Castries, St. Lucia, on March 16th, 2009, sponsored by the OECS Secretariat and the Government of Saint Lucia
Our conversation this evening on the proposed Economic Union of the member-states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and some of its constitutional implications, occurs not in an abstract or sanitised condition of living and production. On the contrary, the circumstances of real life and living are profoundly difficult and immensely challenging. Never in the last eighty years since the “Great Depression” has there been, as now, a period of extraordinary financial turmoil and economic uncertainty worldwide. Expressions such as “financial meltdown”, “economic tsunami”, “deep recession”, and “one-in-a-life-time economic depression” have been uttered by responsible leaders in business, academia, and government in the capitals of the world’s major economies to describe the current state of the international economy. Even more troubling is the lack of an informed consensus as to the depth, breath, and length of this economic recession.
In the United States of America, Europe, and Japan a monumental economic crisis has emerged in which the principals are innocent of the extent of the condition and have no settled or clear ideas as to the way forward. In the U.S.A. alone over two million persons lost their jobs in 2008, swelling the ranks of the unemployed to a number in excess of 12 million persons. In January and February of 2009, an additional 1.3 million persons have joined the jobless queue. The faces of men and women are strained and anxious in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and elsewhere. Workers in the developed countries and emerging economies are more concerned about holding their jobs than in seeking pay increases. Investors are focussed more on keeping their investments intact, not creaming off abnormal profits.
Small, developing, open economies like those in the member-countries of the OECS are particularly vulnerable from the ill winds which blow from this vortex of turmoil and uncertainty internationally. Beneficial trade, tourism, investment, and remittances have become casualties to one degree or another. Regionally, there was a marked economic slow-down in 2008 and the economic prospects for 2009 are not rosy. The troubles of the CL Financial Group and CLICO, the fall-out of the collapse of the Stanford business empire, and job losses in major tourism and other business enterprises across our region, attest to the enormity of the tasks at hand. Clearly, it is not going to be a “walk in the park” this year or in the immediate future.
Basically, there are three possible responses to all this and we notice them being played out: First, ignore the crisis, maintain a business-as-usual attitude and hope, forlornly, for the best. Secondly, embrace a debilitating learned helplessness, appear busy-busy, and essentially do nothing. This is but a variant of the first response. Thirdly, be creative, think afresh, be positive, turn setbacks into advances, try innovative measures, go against the established grain, and coordinate ever more the elaboration and implementation of vital public policies regionally through CARICOM or sub-regionally through the OECS and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB). I am a non-partisan activist in the cause of this third option.
I have averred elsewhere that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Thus, an enduring, lasting legacy of these most daunting economic times must be a profound deepening of the regional integration movement especially within the OECS. The realisation of the quest for a more perfect union of the member-countries of the OECS is urgent and compelling. This is, more than ever, most vital if we are to emerge from the depths into which our region has been plunged, a condition occasioned by circumstances largely not of our own making, but which have come upon us mainly from outside. Still, “outside” will not rescue us; “outside” may help if and when it rebounds, but we must do the lifting ourselves. No one but you and I, singly and collectively, can save ourselves. That is our duty; it is our destiny.
I take inspiration for all this from a recent re-reading of Derek Walcott’s poetic masterpiece “The Schooner Flight” from his The Star-Apple Kingdom published in 1979. Listen to his apt observations, which I quote at length, of the journey of the Schooner “Flight” which is seeking to maneuvre “Out of the Depths”:
“Next day, dark sea. A arse-aching dawnWalcott’s Schooner, “The Flight”, faced the raging, tempestuous seas and the harsh vagaries of nature. At first the crew is uncertain of their fate and glimpsed the worst. But the love of family safe at home, and a faded faith in God now renewed at the time of crisis, provided an inner strength which sustained them. At the wheel was a highly-skilled captain who was selfless and determined to steer the schooner out of the depths of a possible doom. His crew worked hard and smart; they stayed up all-night toiling in a loving and committed communion with their captain. In time, the storms subsided; the dreaded night of tears gave way to a noon-day sea which became calm in a joyful redemption of “Thy Kingdom Come”. So, there is an inspirational and insightful compass for us, as we sail the rough economic waters.
. ‘Damn wind shift sudden as a woman mind.’
‘….Be Jesus, I never see sea get so rough
So fast! That wind come from God back-pocket!’
“I have not loved those that I loved enough.
Worse than the mule kick of Kick-‘Em Jenny
Channel, rain start to pelt the “Flight” between
mountains of water. If I was frighten?
The tent poles of waterspouts bracing the sky
start wobbling, clouds unstitch at the seams
and sky water drench us, and I hear myself cry,
‘I’m the drowned sailor in her ‘Book of Dreams’.’
I remembered those ghost ships, I saw me corkscrewing
to the sea-bed of sea worms, fathom pass fathom, my
jaw clench like a fist, and only one thing
hold me, trembling, how my family safe home.
Then a strength like it seize me and the strength said:
‘I from backward people who still fear God.’
Let Him, in His might, heave Leviathan upward
by the winch of His will, the beast pouring lace
from his sea-bottom bed; and that was the faith
that had fade from a child in the Methodist Chapel
in Chisel Street, Castries, when the whale-bell
sang service and, in hard pews ribbed like the whale,
proud with despair, we sang how our race
survive the sea’s maw, our history, our peril
and now I was ready for whatever death will.
But if that storm had strength, was in Cap’n face,
beard beading with spray, tears salting the eyes,
crucify to his post, that nigger hold fast
to that wheel, man, like the cross held Jesus,
and the wounds of his eyes like they crying for us,
and I feeding him white rum, while every crest
with Leviathan-lash make the ‘Flight’ quail
like two criminal. Whole night, with no rest,
till red-eyed like dawn, we watch our turmoil
subsiding, subside, and there was no more storm.
And the noon sea get calm as Thy Kingdom Come.”
Thus our collective journey towards a deeper, more perfect union has taken us through much pain and joy, defeats and triumphs, setbacks and advances. Circumstances have made it now more propitious than ever to enlarge our possibilities, reduce our limitations, consolidate our strengths, and convert our negatives into enduring positives in this mighty quest for an economic union of the OECS member-countries. This is a great cause; and great causes have never been won by doubtful men and women. We ought never to be doubtful about the bounty of history’s bequests to us nor about the solemn realization that of all time only the future is ours to desecrate.
History, culture, demography, and geographic propinquity have pre-disposed our sub-region to a closer union. Contemporary economics, small size, trade liberalisation advanced telecommunications, modern globalisation, and the turmoils of “casino capitalism”, have induced us to strengthen ever more perfectly the ties that bind. Island chauvinism, a potential overreach by regional bureaucrats, and the petty politics of village states are the debilitating interlopers which threaten to undermine the efficacy of the proposed economic union enterprise and its necessary and consequentially altered political superstructure.
FUNCTIONAL COOPERATION TO ECONOMIC UNION
The case for a closer union of the member-countries of the OECS has always been unanswerably strong. The founding-fathers of the Treaty of Basseterre, which established the OECS in 1981, envisaged functional cooperation, and more, in eighteen specific areas, within the political economy and society. Indeed, through the OECS and other companion entities a veritable supranational institutional architecture has been built around a solid core including: the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court system; the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank; the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority; the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority; and the OECS itself which oversees and implements sub-regional cooperation in health, education, the joint procurement of pharmaceuticals, sports, agriculture, tourism, external trade, the environment, maritime matters, and joint diplomatic representation in Ottawa, Brussels and Geneva.
Indeed, of the concentric circles of regional integration in the Caribbean, the OECS is the most tightly drawn; and there is undoubtedly a greater collegiality in decision-making and implementation in it than in the wider Caribbean Community (CARICOM). But there is inevitably much overlap in functional and economic cooperation between CARICOM and the OECS. Yet at the same time there is a marked difference, for the better, in the OECS in many joint cooperative areas, for example, in the judicial system, money, and banking.
Obviously, the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and its targeted evolution to a Single Economy has implications for the criss-crossing development of an OECS Economic Union. In turn, an OECS Economic Union will necessarily demand that an expressed special place be carved out for it within the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas of CARICOM. In a sense, the quest for an OECS Economic Union is a recognition by the OECS member-countries that the “special and differential” position elaborated for them within the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas is inadequate and that the promise of a CARICOM-wide Single Economy is unlikely to be fulfilled either at all or in a manner sufficiently advantageous to them. Thus for example, we are unlikely to see in the foreseeable future the realisation of a common monetary policy or a common currency in CARICOM as there exists in the OECS member-Countries. Similarly, it is most doubtful that we would see in CARICOM an integrated judiciary as in the OECS or an enhanced institutionalised “supranationality” in political decision-making which is required to transform a ramshackle political-administrative apparatus in CARICOM into a purposive, matching vehicle correspondingly, for the Single Economy venture.
Objectively, and immediately, the OECS member-countries ought additionally to elaborate further in theory and practice, very special political-economic and social relationships with Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Barbados. It is self-evident, for example, that apart from the monetary union of the OECS-member-countries, their economies are more closely integrated with that of Trinidad and Tobago than with each other. Moreover, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have especial family ties with Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados is a major hub for the OECS member-countries in several areas of activity; and they share a joint Regional Security System. Guyana represents the future for land, food, and water for the sub-region.
These reasons, and more, correctly prompt some leaders in the OECS, particularly from the Windward Islands, from time to time to propose closer political ties formally with Trinidad and Tobago especially, as recently with the OECS-Trinidad and Tobago Economic Union Initiative, and to a lesser extent with Barbados and Guyana. All these ideas or proposals possess validity in themselves but none undermines the on-going push towards a closer union of OECS member-countries. This is where we are at practically, now!
DRAFT OECS UNION TREATY
The Heads of Government of the independent member-countries of the OECS and Montserrat have decided on behalf of their respective populations to propose for their consideration the development of the OECS into an Economic Union. Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands have expressed their willingness to remain associated with the OECS in its functional cooperativeness but they stand askance from the proposal for an Economic Union. This dual level of engagement or two-tiered OECS is permitted in the Draft Economic Union Treaty which encompasses the Functional and Governance, arrangements separately from the Protocol of the Eastern Caribbean Economic Union. This Protocol facilitates the construction of a modern, many-sided, competitive post-colonial economy which is at once national, regional, and global.
The Draft of the proposed Treaty for the OECS to replace the existing Treaty of Basseterre has as one of its major purposes the establishment of an Economic Union as a single economic and financial space [Article 4.1 (e)]. It further proposes that the OECS be “an institutional forum to discuss and facilitate constitutional, political and economic changes which would be necessary for the successful participating of member-states in the regional and global economies. “ [Article 4.1 (f)]. The Draft Treaty envisages 21 areas of joint policies and actions.
An Economic Union necessarily demands alterations in the governance structures in the OECS. Accordingly, Article 5 of the Draft Treaty provides for a general undertaking by member-countries to delegate legislative competence to the OECS in certain specified areas. Article 14.1 of the Draft Treaty details the five areas of legislative competence for the OECS, namely:
The suggested governance arrangements in the Draft Treaty centre on five institutions:
SOME IMMEDIATE INSTITUTIONAL STEPS
In addition to the institutional arrangements which have been, or are being, put in place by the OECS Secretariat and the member-countries of the OECS to advance the process towards the attainment of an OECS Economic Union by the end of 2009, I suggest that the following institutional steps be taken urgently:-
This Unit’s central mandate is to initiate, coordinate, and assist in the implementation of public policies touching and concerning the regional integration movement, especially the OECS. In St. Vincent and the Grenadines there is already such a Unit and it exists in the Office of the Prime Minister.
The Draft Treaty for the OECS, and its attendant Protocol of Eastern Caribbean Economic Union, does not undermine the constitutional integrity or the very Constitution of any of the member-states of the OECS. Indeed, the enhanced areas of legislative competence entrusted to the OECS under the Draft Treaty are by way of delegation which would be conferred in two expressed ways: First, by the enactment of the Treaty into the domestic law of each member-country of the OECS; and secondly, by the passage of a specific and common Act of Parliament in each member-country to provide legal and constitutional clothing for decisions taken by the OECS Authority, or any administrative structure thereunder, on the matters covered in the Treaty.
It is to be noted that the OECS Assembly is a legislative filter of a consultative nature which does not subvert the parliamentary authority of any member-state. Similarly, the OECS Authority represents a pooling of sovereignties, not a derogation of it. Indeed, the pooling of sovereignties, in practical terms, amounts to an enlargement of political and economic space in which to exercise the sovereignty of the individual nation-state.
This approach to a deepening of regional integration by way of Treaty or Inter-Government Agreement embodied in domestic statutory law is tried and test in our region and sub-region. The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, upon which the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is based, was signed by Heads of State/Government, ratified by Cabinets, and then passed into domestic law by Parliament. So, too, the Agreement establishing the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) and the Treaty of Basseterre upon which the OECS is grounded.
To be sure, the distinguished draftpersons of the proposed Treaty, Professor Ralph Carnegie and Mr. Reggie Amour Q.C., have pushed towards the limits of the existing individual constitutions of the member-states of the OECS in quest of the deepest and most practicable governance arrangements in the Union in accordance with the instructions unanimously delivered by the governments of the member-states. But they have not reached those limits.
CONCLUSION
The fundamental issue at stake therefore is political, not constitutional: Are the people of the OECS sub-region prepared to embrace a necessary and desirable supranationality on their march to a more perfect union? Are the people ready to pool their island sovereignties further for a more beneficial Union in the interest of their development and humanisation?
I believe, unequivocally, that they are prepared and ready to go forth to a more perfect Union in the OECS, and indeed in the wider CARICOM. But a committed, clear-sighted, and passionate leadership is required like the Captain of Derek Walcott’s Schooner, named “Flight”, who led his crew and vessel out of the stormy seas and tempestuous winds to a sea of calm. It is a leadership which not only inspires but which draws out of the people being led that which is good and noble in them, sometimes to draw out goodness and nobility which the people do not as yet know that they possess. Remember, though, that leaders make history only to the extent that the circumstances permit. So, the people must take ownership of this process in communion with their leaders.
Together we are at a propitious historical juncture. It is an occasion to chant with real meaning and hopefulness Psalm 133:
“Behold how good and how pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
“Like the precious oil upon the head, that ran down
upon the beard, upon Aaron’s beard, that ran down to
the hem of his garments;
“As the dew of Hermon that descendeth on the
mountains of Zion, for there hath Jehovah commanded
the blessing, life for evermore.”
Unity of the peoples of the OECS member-countries is the metaphoric “precious oil” upon our heads and the energizing “dew” that descends upon our region’s landscape, its mountains, valleys, plains, and beaches, and yes, upon our seascape, too. This “unity” is an abundant blessing which our fathers and mothers have bequeathed to us and which destiny and our condition dictate that we must embrace, always.
Thank you!
STATEMENT ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS REGARDING CL FINANCIAL GROUP AND THE GOVERNMENT OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
By Dr. The Hon. Ralph E. Gonsalves
Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Delivered in Parliament on February 3rd, 2009
A number of State owned enterprises, credit unions, private companies, and individuals in St. Vincent and the Grenadines invested significant amount of funds in the aforementioned subsidiaries of CL Financial Group. Accordingly, the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is taking swift and decisive measures to monitor the unfolding outcomes of the arrangements between the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and CL Financial Group.
Last Friday, January 30th, 2009, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago through the Central Bank announced that it had intervened in the operations of CL Financial Limited Group.
The stated objectives of the intervention by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago regarding CL Financial are as follows:-
“The Central Bank is very conscious of the contagion risks that financial difficulties in an institution as vast as the CL Financial Group could have on the entire financial system of Trinidad and Tobago and indeed in the entire Caribbean region.
For the record, ladies and gentlemen, the CL Financial Group has an imposing presence with potentially systemic consequences for the financial sector and the economy of Trinidad and Tobago and the entire region.
For example,
The principal objectives of the strategy are to ensure that resources are available to meet withdrawals of third-party CIB depositors and CLICO policy holders; to protect the funds of the depositors and policy holders and in doing so maintain confidence in CLICO and reinforce confidence in the financial sector as a whole.
The main elements of the strategy are as follows:-
Because any stress in one corner of the financial system tends to raise concerns throughout the sector, I would also take the opportunity to remind the national community of the tremendous strength of our financial system, which indeed is the envy of the region. Excluding CIB, the banking system now boasts of an average capital adequacy level of 18 percent, compared with a recommended minimum of 8 percent; in contrast to the illiquidity of CIB, the rest of the banking system is plagued by excess liquidity; the overall level of non-performing loans is an impressively low 2 percent and the banks have more than adequate level of provisions against bad loans”.
Subsequently, on Sunday February 1st, 2009, in a telephone conversation which I had with the Honourable Minister of Finance of Trinidad and Tobago, Ms. Karen Nunez-Tesheira, she reiterated the assurances given to investors, depositors and policy holders by the Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. Specifically, she assured me that those assurances relate not only to investors, depositors and policy-holders in Trinidad and Tobago but include those also in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the rest of the Caribbean.
Further, on Monday February 02, 2009, in another telephone conversation, this time with the Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago himself, he informed me that Finance Minister Nunez-Tesheira had informed him of my enquiries and her assurances. He re-confirmed that the investments of any investor, depositor or policy holder in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in any of the companies of the CL Financial Group operating out of Trinidad and Tobago, namely CLICO Insurance Company of Trinidad and Tobago, British American Insurance Company, the CLICO Investment Bank (CIB) and Caribbean Money Market Brokers (CMMB), are safe and sound. He pledged to put this in writing to me. He informed me, too, that he had given a similar assurance to Sir Dwight Venner, the Governor of our Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB).
On February 2nd, 2009 the Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago wrote to me in the following and other terms:
“The main objective of the strategy is to protect third party (i.e. excluding intra group) liabilities of these companies. The liabilities of CIB will be transferred to First Citizens Bank and these will be guaranteed by the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. CLICO’s and BA’s policies issued in Trinidad and Tobago will be guaranteed by Government.”
Although the policies of the local branch of British American are governed by the laws of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, they are actually issued in Trinidad and Tobago. The Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago has confirmed to me that this is in fact an issuance from Trinidad and Tobago and thus covered by the guarantee of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago”.
Regarding the investments of any investor, depositor or policy-holder in CLICO Holdings Barbados Limited, I have been in communication with the Chairman of CLICO (Barbados) Mr. Leroy Parris, and Prime Minister David Thompson. Each of them assured me that the investments of the investors, depositors or policy-holders of CLICO Barbados in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the rest of the Eastern Caribbean are safe. Indeed, separately, both Mr. Parris and Prime Minister Thompson sent me a statement on the matter issued by the Prime Minister on Friday January 30th, 2009.
In that statement Prime Minister Thompson stated the following, among other things:-
In the Eastern Caribbean, Sir Dwight Venner and I have been in regular communication on this subject matter over the week-end, yesterday, and today. As the Chairman of the Joint OECS-ECCB Task Force and as the most senior Minister of Finance currently serving on the Monetary Council of the ECCB, I have an especial responsibility to be working closely with the Governor, in addition to my obligations as Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Yesterday I have been in telephone contact with several Ministers of Finance and Heads of Government of the OECS-ECCB countries on this issue. This morning an important video-conference between the Governor and members of the Monetary Council of the ECCB was held to coordinate our sub-regional position.
A statement was issued from this meeting of the Monetary Council today. The full text is as follows:-
The total exposure of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is far greater than the holdings of the State-enterprises. Credit Unions, private companies and individuals hold considerable sums in the aggregate. The Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is satisfied that all these investments are safe and sound; and there is no need to panic. We are comforted by the assurances and commitments of the Governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados and all the other factual circumstances surrounding the CL Financial Group and its subsidiaries.
The Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines commends the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for its swift and decisive action in this matter. We commend, too, the Government of Barbados on its solemn assurances and quick public responses. We shall continue to monitor the situation closely, nationally and through the coordinated mechanism of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. We are confident in meeting all challenges successfully.
ADDRESSING ON-GOING SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHALLENGES CONSEQUENT UPON THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC CRISIS
By Dr. The Hon. Ralph E. Gonsalves
Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
The basis for my Government’s approach to the on-going socio-economic challenges facing St. Vincent and the Grenadines was outlined in my 2009 Budget Speech delivered on December 01, 2008. In that speech I stated as follows:-
“In St. Vincent and the Grenadines we have so far been spared any instability in our banking and financial system because the banks are well-regulated through the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank as part of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. However, in the macro-economy there has been a deceleration of economic growth in 2008 compared with the robust acceleration recorded in 2006 and 2007. In 2009, modest economic growth is forecast. We must ever be cognizant that St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a small, vulnerable, open economy with a relatively narrow economic base. It is remarkable, though, that despite all the external economic and climatic shocks of recent years, our country has not only survived but thrived. Still, we must be ever mindful of our level of development or under-development, and of our goals, our possibilities, our strengths, and our quest for upliftment.
Meanwhile, the fiscal situation of the central government in St. Vincent and the Grenadines has remained stable, though challenging, through careful management of the available resources.
It is in this immediate context and against the pre-existing background of our economy structurally and empirically, that this Budget is fashioned. The central focus remains the quest to build a modern, competitive, many-sided, post-colonial economy which is at once local, national, regional, and global. There is no need to alter the fundamental underpinnings of the government’s people-centred vision, its well-articulated over-arching economic philosophy, grounded in a tri-partite base of the private, public and cooperative sectors, its socio-economic policies, and specific programmes. At the same time, prudent adjustments, re-fashioned emphases, boldly creative responses, and other targeted strategic interventions are demanded for these more challenging times and circumstances.
Accordingly, the central theme of our Budget for the upcoming year revolves around continued socio-economic development, competitiveness, and fiscal consolidation at a time of financial turmoil and economic uncertainty internationally. This country’s monetary policy remains focussed on currency stability, an efficacious regulatory regime, economic growth, the containment of inflation, and fiscal consolidation. All this has been recently re-confirmed at the October 2008 meeting of the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.
On the fiscal side, more than ever, the Government remains committed to a counter-cyclical fiscal policy which is at once prudent and enterprising. Any other approach in these especially challenging economic circumstances would be folly in the short-term and short-sighted in the long-run. A pro-cyclical fiscal policy would merely hasten hardship and halt the prospect of an economic advance when the next up-turn occurs internationally. Indeed, a pro-cyclical fiscal policy is a path to economic ruin, especially for the poor and working people, but also for the nation as a whole. Thus, my government rejects as a wholly bad idea, uttered by those who embrace a “reckless conservatism”, that because of a supposedly short-term macro-economic compulsion, we must cut capital spending on worthwhile public investment, especially in productive infrastructure, education, and health, or chop worthwhile social programmes designed to protect and advance our citizens, particularly the most vulnerable.
At the same time, the admixture of prudence and enterprise in fiscal policy and practice must become ever more refocused and creative to ensure continued socio-economic progress, sharpened business competitiveness, further tax reductions, targeted public sector investments, sensible debt management, fiscal consolidation, and overall macro-economic stability. This Budget contains several initiatives, in addition to pre-existing ones, to achieve these commendable objectives.
Central to this bundle of creative initiatives and focussed continuity are the following:-
In tackling the tasks ahead, my Government has been engaged in further strengthening its institutional arrangements locally and its linkages regionally and internationally. Locally, we have embarked on the following:-
The Estimates and Budget for 2009 were fashioned in the crucible of the on-going challenges arising from the regional and international situation. Thus, the Estimates and the fiscal measures constitute the fulcrum around which our work for 2009 revolves. We are busily sourcing all grant monies, loans, and technical assistance indentified in the Budget. Similarly, we are collecting the various items of local revenue. It is too early to say whether we are on target to meet our local revenue estimates. Hitherto, our estimates have been met.
At the same time the on-going recurrent and capital works of the Government is continuing apace.
Given the fact that events in the unfolding international economic crisis are moving swiftly and, in some cases, unexpectedly, our plans are under constant review and adjustments or shifts are accordingly being made.
Since January 2009 my Government has undertaken additional initiatives to meet the challenges, including:
(A)
TOURISM
(B)
AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES
Construction is a vital sector in the transitioning of a goods-based economy to a service-based one. In these more challenging times it is more important. Thus, the many-sided focus, including regional coordination, to lift the construction sector more markedly.
The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Public Works is central to driving this focus. So, too, would the Roads, Buildings and General Services Authority when it becomes operational on July 01, 2009.
Regarding the energy sector my Government is pushing for greater efficiencies in VINLEC and the diversification of the energy base towards wind, solar and geothermal energy. Our aim in the medium-term is to lay the ground work to make us the first “green” country in the not-too-distant future.
Emphasis is being placed too by my government in the light manufacturing, agro-processing, and information technology industries. The Ministry of Technology and Industry, NIPI, the Centre for Enterprise Development, and the National Commercial Bank are at the heart of this thrust in conjunction with the enterprising private entrepreneurs in these fields.
We continue, too, to pursue work in the international financial services sector as an important area of economic activity.
(D)
SAFETY NETS
In my 2009 Budget Address I identified a series of safety net measures available from the Central Government. Among these I listed 20 which amount to some $40 million. This is in addition to the substantial contributory and non-contributory pensions and other payments through the National Insurance Services j(NIS).
The loss of jobs by approximately 100 persons since the start of the year has caused my Government to elaborate in conjunction with the NIS further safety net supports. These will be announced shortly.
(E)
PEOPLE’S INVOLVEMENT
In these more challenging times our people must work harder and smarter; be more productive and disciplined; be more caring, loving, peaceful and united. We have it in us to triumph yet again over adversity and make even better lives for ourselves as a whole and individually.
Our public sector must be more efficient in its delivery of goods and services. We have improved over recent years but much better can still be done. Unless each person in St. Vincent and the Grenadines works harder and smarter than ever we would not achieve the best possible results.
INDEPENDENCE DAY 2008 MESSAGE:
OUR CHALLENGES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
By Dr. The Hon. Ralph E. Gonsalves
Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
October 27th, 2008
On the occasion of our nation’s twenty-ninth anniversary of independence, it is appropriate to reflect on our challenges and achievements over the past year and our current condition as we continue on our quest to enhance our possibilities and to reduce, as far as is humanly practicable, our limitations so as to make our lives better.
During 2008 the circumstances of the international political economy impacted adversely upon our nation as a whole and placed additional strain on the poor and working people. Oil prices rose sharply to the unprecedented figure of almost US $150 per gallon on the international market. Food prices sky-rocketed as the imported commodities of flour, rice, meats and other basic items became hugely expensive, and scarce, internationally. Recently, the oil prices have subsided to just under US $75 per gallon, heralding some relief. Politically, at the international level, strife, discord, and more, created immense uncertainty as to whether the centre can hold in a stable way. In the midst of all this, a massive meltdown in the banking and financial system in the citadels of capitalism, especially in the U.S.A. and Europe, has foretold an economic recession and, possibly, a depression, in several of the world’s major economies.
Regionally, our neighborhood has become increasingly dangerous with increased violent crimes, drug-trafficking, and money-laundering.
Almost everywhere, the faces of men and women are strained and anxious. They are losing hope in a pessimist-filled world. Remarkably, here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, our people, despite the enormous challenges and difficulties which have come upon us from outside, have held our focus; we have accommodated the stresses and strains; we have even made progress, individually and collectively; and we have, as a people, cast aside the debilitating burden of helplessness. We are fighting the good fight. It is times like these that our mettle is tested. And we are more than holding our own.
To be sure, the creative policies and leadership of our government, and the fraternal assistance of friendly nations and our diaspora overseas, have been most helpful at this time. But fundamentally, it is the spirit, resolve, good nature, good sense, discipline, and hard work of the vast majority of our people, that have made us improve our lot and chalk up impressive achievements. The threat of adversity has steeled us; our will and spirit are undaunted; and our goodness and nobility have shone through. It all makes me so proud to be our country’s Prime Minister. It has solidified even more my love for our people and our blessed country.
Nationally, the spate of vital state-sponsored developmental projects continue apace in their implementation. For example, the jet airport at Canouan has been opened and the construction of the Argyle International Airport has commenced. Six modern schools are under construction; the Modern Medical Complex at Georgetown is being built; the Modern National Library Complex is nearing completion; Police Stations, Learning Resource Centres, and several other state-buildings are sprouting up all over the country; the Windward Highway, from Fancy to Kingstown, is almost complete and plans are far advanced for the reconstruction of the main road from Kingstown to Buccament; and the Cross-Country Road is a continuing work in progress.
Meanwhile, the Education and Housing Revolutions are in full swing; the Wellness Revolution was launched; Poverty Reduction programmes have been stepped up; economic growth, though less than last year, is being recorded; fiscal consolidation continues; the modernisation and reform of our government is in progress; our image abroad is being enhanced daily; we are in the vanguard of regional integration efforts; our civilisation is being continually ennobled; and good governance reigns.
Our people are excelling in large areas of human endeavour. Our student’s achievements are of the highest quality; our creative artists and cultural activists continue to produce remarkable works; our artisans, professionals, business people, farmers, fisher-folk and working people generally are most productive; and our leaders, by and large, are performing well.
It is unfortunate and sad that there are still those in our midst, albeit a tiny minority, who are bent on criminality and vagabondry. Unfortunate, too, that those who should know better are engaged in mischief, unreasonable political conduct, and even unpatriotic acts. The struggle of progressive, focused people who are the bulk of our nation, continue against these. We will triumph, as always, despite the difficulties.
We are on the cusp of our thirtieth anniversary of independence which we celebrate next year. From now till then, we unveil our “Vincy Homecoming”. Let us make this work as a united people.
I accordingly greet our nation with hope, optimism, and love, amidst all the challenges, this our twenty-ninth anniversary of independence.
May Almighty God continue to bless us all.
STATEMENT
BY H.E. Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves
Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations
at the General Debate of the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly
26th September, 2008
New York
At the outset, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines expresses its solidarity with the people of Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and the United States, who have been savagely battered in quick succession by Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike. Within the Caribbean and Our America, the heroism, bravery and resilience of the Cuban, Haitian and Jamaican people and ordinary Americans are a well-documented source of pride to us all. We wish you a speedy recovery, and stand with you in your rebuilding efforts.
Mr. President, allow me to express my pleasure in noting that the Presidency of the General Assembly is now held by a man whose native shores are kissed by the magnificent Caribbean Sea. I am comforted by the knowledge that you have a full appreciation of the majesty of our landscape and seascape, the opportunities and challenges facing our region, and the nobility of our Caribbean civilisation. Your dream that “Another World is Possible,” as courageously outlined in your inaugural Presidential statement, is both timely and prescient. I wholeheartedly endorse your call for frankness, democratisation, and a focus on the needs of the poor, all under the redemptive and transformative rubric of love and solidarity with our fellow human beings.
It is in that spirit of love and frankness that I come before you today, Mr. President. In all candor, I must reaffirm what you have already concluded: That the United Nations, as the supreme multilateral institution of a profoundly troubled and iniquitous world, can and must do more, in the form of decisive action, to improve the condition of our planet, the living conditions of the less fortunate, and the safety of our global family.
The late Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia once stated that:
“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”
There can be no doubt that the right-thinking and civilised peoples of the world are aware of the challenges facing us, and of the path to peace, progress and prosperity upon which we must collectively embark. However, the work that we have entrusted to the United Nations is compromised by apathy and inaction by too many of us, and the crippling pursuit of narrow self-interest by a handful of powerful countries. We have, in this session, an historic opportunity to reassert the relevance and credibility of this body by keeping the promises that we have made to ourselves and the world.
The United Nations is charged with tackling the weighty problems that beset the world, not with the refinement of the art of impotent diplomacy. I have no doubt that the principles concealed in the language of “mandate review,” “system wide coherence” and “revitalisation” are important, and doubly so to the professional diplomats who look inward rather than outward, and who lose sight of the forest for the trees, in their endless quest to choreograph the dancing of ever more angels on the head of a pin. But bureaucratese will neither excite nor engage the poor and marginalised people that we have created this body to serve. When our signature achievements and emphases are esoterically bureaucratic, it speaks to a broader failing of the United Nations to achieve the noble goals of its overarching mandate, as spelt out so compellingly in the preamble of its Charter.
Mr. President, One year ago, I stood at this very podium and denounced the failure of the international community to end the genocide in Darfur. One year ago, there were promising, though belated, signs that the UN was finally beginning to act decisively in this regard. One year ago I said that “the force on the ground is still insufficient, its mandate ambiguous, and its emerging presence years too late.” Today, one year later, I am shocked by our continued collective failures in Darfur. Last month, Force Commander Martin Luther Agwai compared his role to that of a boxer in the ring with his hands tied behind his back, because his promised force of 26,000 personnel is still less than 10,000 strong. I thus reflect as to whether our promises of “never again” and our commitments to the memories of one million Rwandans mean anything, as the blood of hundreds of thousands of Africans again stains the soil of the Continent and our collective conscience. As a people whose past and future are inextricably interwoven with the Continent, the citizens of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ask ourselves, in the words of Caribbean Nobel Laureate from St. Lucia, Derek Walcott, “How can I face such slaughter and be cool?/ How can I turn from Africa and live?” The conflict in Darfur is over five years old, and the time has long since past for genuine international action to halt this unspeakable human tragedy.
The conflicts on the African continent, and the half-hearted half-measures employed against them, beg the question of why no African country has joined some of their former colonial exploiters and enslavers as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council; and why the membership of that Council remains an anachronistic reflection of a bygone geopolitical era. While I congratulate the General Assembly on finally clearing the way towards intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform, it cannot be an illusory or insincere process. The credibility of the decisions made by the United Nations in the name of peace and security hinges on the existence of a Security Council that is democratic, and representative of the regional and developmental diversity of our body.
Mr. President, as you are well aware, the scarcities and escalating prices of basic foodstuffs have already led to riots and political instability worldwide and within our own Caribbean Community. While Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has confronted the crisis with a creative National Food Production Plan that mixes agricultural incentives with education and assistance, our local measures are only ameliorative, and cannot totally insulate us from what is largely an imported problem. We are again buffeted by the winds of unequal trade liberalisation, in which the agricultural subsidies of developed states force our own nascent agro-industries to an uncompetitive demise. We are witness to a world where crops are grown to feed cars, while people starve, and where climate change ruins age-old farming and fishing livelihoods. The so-called food crisis that we now face is but a symptom of deeper structural flaws in our global economic system and consumerist culture. It represents the human face at the confluence of countless systemic flaws and poorly conceived strategies, including trade barriers, the mad rush to biofuels, adverse climate changes, and anemic development assistance. Any meaningful attempt to alleviate the suffering of the poor and hungry of the world must start with these systemic issues, and resist the urge to treat the symptoms while ignoring the disease and its causes.
The banana farmers of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines continue their heroic struggles to eke out a living in the face of corporate greed internationally, thinly disguised as principled globalisation. Our farmers, tradesmen and private sector are still waiting for the oft-promised opportunities that supposedly accompany globalisation, but the evidence to date suggests that the international community has inadvertently institutionalised and entrenched poverty within a system of global winners and losers. The ironically titled “development round” of Doha looks less and less like a negotiating process and more and more like a suicide pact within the WTO, in which the major economic powers want everything and concede little or nothing to the poor and developing nations of the world. The solutions to our economic crises hinge upon genuine negotiation and compromise in the interest of the world’s least privileged. We are ill-served by benign neglect, unequal enforcement, and concepts of welfare colonialism. The recent troubles in the world’s premier financial and banking countries exacerbate the profound challenges facing developing nations.
Six years ago, world leaders gathered in Mexico and gave birth to the Monterrey Consensus, in which they pledged their objective to “eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic growth, and promote sustainable development as we advance to a fully inclusive and equitable global economic system.” I prayed at the time that the conference would not devole into “a dragon’s dance upon a decorous platform of the finest diplomatic language which few are determined to embrace for action.” Six years later, Monterrey is remembered as the site of grand, unfulfilled commitments to the developing world, much as Africa recalls the empty promises of Gleneagles. The four decades old promise of devoting 0.7% of GNI to Official Development Assistance remains more illusion than reality. Countries like ours, therefore, are forced to scour the globe for friends willing to partner with us for the development of our people, while others would rather sit in judgment of our developmental decisions and priorities than rise to offer a helping hand. Irish philosopher Edmund Burke once opined that “Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises; for never intending to go beyond promises; it costs nothing.” The unfulfilled promises of the powerful are a comfort to no one, and subvert the credibility of the developed world and the multilateral process.
Mr. President, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines once again pleads with the international community to be cognisant of the plight of Taiwan’s 23 million people. Even though the United Nations’ historical neglect of the Taiwan issue has not been a source of pride, the government of Taiwan has acted responsibly and without confrontation to subordinate many of its legitimate political claims into efforts aimed at reducing cross-Strait tensions, promoting peace and building relations with the People’s Republic of China. The United Nations must now act to ensure the survival of this fledgling rapprochement. Taiwan should be encouraged on its path to peace by permitting its meaningful participation in the specialized agencies of the United Nations. Much as Taiwan’s vibrant economy is recognised through its participation in the WTO, there is no compelling reason why its equally vibrant people should be denied participation in the WHO and other specialized agencies.
Mr. President, the Caribbean is in the midst of its annual hurricane season, and the awesome winds, sea surges and torrential rains of Gustav, Hanna and Ike have brought the issue of climate change into sharp relief. The hitherto once-in-a-lifetime storm is now a repeated annual occurrence, and our day-to-day life is becoming severely affected by irregular weather patterns, coastal erosion, coral bleaching and tragic landslides. The mitigation promises made by the developed world must be kept without delay. This is a matter of life and death to the people of the Caribbean and other Small Island Developing States. Similarly, the cost of adaptation to the changes wrought by our industrialised brothers and sisters must be borne – adequately and responsibly – by those who have so profoundly altered our global environment. Hurricanes remind us in the Caribbean of our existential oneness. Accordingly, the efforts of Caribbean nations to fashion a more perfect union is to be fully supported as a vital strategic necessity.
The geographic happenstance that has placed the innocent people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the path of increasingly intense storms has also located us unfortunately between the supply and demand that fuel much of the West’s narcotics trade. As a result, our scarce resources are increasingly being diverted to stem the tide of drugs and small arms flowing through our region. To the people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, disarmament does not mean the eradication of nuclear weapons, which we lack the will and resources to build, but the elimination of small arms, which threaten to shoot holes in the fabric of our democracy and compromise the values of our civilisation. We are assailed by guns, which we do not build; and by deadly narcotics such as cocaine, which we do not produce. The United Nations must act to protect the innocent victims of the world from the scourge of small arms and light weapons.
Mr. President, in recent months, I have been profoundly troubled by the creeping return of cold war rhetoric to the language of international and hemispheric discourse. In this globalised and interconnected world, it is no longer possible to divide the world in competing hemispheres, or to completely quarantine or blockade ideological foe from friend. We must guard against the return of discarded philosophies and learn from the recent past, in which developing countries were used as pawns and proxies for the hegemonic ambitions of others. Our multipolar experiment is too young for the developing and globalizing world to return to the old rhetoric and recriminations that invariably blossom into violence and death, most often visited on the peoples of developing countries. It is my sincere prayer that this august body hews more closely to the principles of multilateralism and sovereign equality of all states, and resists any pressures for the United Nations to devolve into a playground for the triumphalist ambitions of presumptive superpowers.
Mr. President, you sit at the helm of a body entrusted with the wellbeing and safekeeping of humanity. We have gradually strayed from the noblest of our goals, and increasingly paid only lip service to problems that are well within our ability to solve. In countless spheres, we have promised action. Let us now keep those promises, for the good of our global family.
The late John F. Kennedy, former President of the United States of America, once said that “there are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.” I believe in the power of the Member States of the United Nations, individually and collectively, to act meaningfully for the betterment of mankind.
The poetic summation of Robert Frost is apt:
I thank you!
SPEECH FROM DR. RUDY MATTHIAS,
CHAIRMAN OF THE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT COMPANY(IADC)
Delivered at the Ground Breaking Ceremony of the Arylye International Airport
on Sunday July 13th 2008 at Argyle, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
INTERVENTION IN THE GROUND BREAKING CEREMONY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ARGYLE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.
Delivered by the Cuban Charge d' Affaires
at the Ground Breaking Ceremony of the Arylye International Airport
on
Sunday July 13th 2008 at Argyle, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FUTURE BEGINS NOW.
LONG LIFE TO THE BONDS BETWEEN SVG AND CUBA
LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE AND LEADERS OF SVG
LONG LIVE FIDEL, LONG LIVE RAUL AND LONG LIVE THE CUBAN REVOLUTION!
ADDRESS BY THE ECCAA REPRESENTATIVE MR DONALD MC PHAIL.
Delivered at the Ground Breaking Ceremony of the Arylye International Airport
on Sunday July 13th 2008 at Argyle, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
IMPROVEMENT IN FISCAL SITUATION
Media release issued - April 25th, 2008
by the Office of the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
THE MODERN, COMPETITIVE POST-COLONIAL ECONOMY: THE CASE OF ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
by Dr The Hon Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
June 2007
TOWARDS A NATIONAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES, 2008 – 2020
by
Dr. The Honourable Ralph E. Gonsalves
Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Delivered on Jan 22, 2007, at Methodist Church Hall, SVG at the Launch of Consultations on the National Economic and Social Development Plan 2008 – 2020
THE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PROJECT AT ARGYLE
by
Dr. The Honourable Ralph E. Gonsalves
Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
-Address Delivered at the Methodist Church Hall, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, on August 8, 2005
CONTENTS
Before, exploring the central issues regarding the International Airport Project, it is necessary to refer, preliminarily; to a number of studies on international airport development on mainland St. Vincent which we met when we assumed office at the end of March 2001. I believe that there is hardly any national issue that has been more frequently studied than the international airport. But there was never any follow-up action.
I cannot refer here to all the studies undertaken over the past thirty years. It is sufficient for me to mention two of the most recent and probably, most important ones. These are: