| Let
me pay special tribute to our host, that titan of Caribbean
integration and magnificent international statesman,
the Most Honourable Percival J. Patterson. We simply
thank you for your work and Almighty God for your inspiring
life.
Today
January 30, 2006, we reach and pass a milestone of
historic proportions as the maturation process of
our Caribbean Civilisation continues. This civilisation
acknowledges the disparity of our roots, yet speaks
clearly to the intimacy of our knowledge and understanding
of each other, of our feelings of brotherhood and
sisterhood, of our sense of ourselves as a unique
people embarked on an extraordinary journey through
life, with determination and commitment as we seek
to mould our Caribbean community in our own image,
likeness and interest.
It is here in the landscape and seascape of the Caribbean
that the peoples of Africa and Europe, of India and
Madeira, of the Middle East and China, and those indigenous
to our region, have come together through a conspiracy
of history, politics and fate, to mould a
Civilization out of diverse peoples and cultures,
spread among sovereign nations and countries, united
in a singular goal – that of a better life for
our people and a legacy which allows us to stand proud
and tall. And so it is that today, we celebrate ourselves
as people of the Caribbean advancing by the stirrups
of our own efforts, wisdom, leadership and vision
for a better future. This is a great cause, and as
the Right Excellent Norman Washington Manley averred
at Montego Bay in 1947, “great causes are not
won by doubtful men and women”
.
I address you today as Chairman of the Organization
of Eastern Caribbean States. The sentiments which
I express today on behalf of the governments and people
of the OECS, are in no way at odds with the fact that
the OECS Member States are not at this time
signing the instruments which will mark the Coming
into Being of the Caribbean Single Market. We are
signing on to an appropriate “Declaration of
Intent” to get aboard the CSM train by June
30, 2006. Some OECS member states are ready now; others
will be by June 30, the latest. On this issue we in
the ECS have chosen to move as a group.
It is imperative that we understand the forces which
have shaped the process of Caribbean integration and
the immense contribution of what is now the OECS,
to that venture and adventure. When some deemed us
to have been recalcitrant, we were in fact taking
positions that advanced the cause of regionalism.
So we have an understanding of history and of our
place in it. Today is no different. Let us examine
briefly the reality of that history.
From
the earlier days of the ferment towards the Caribbean
unification, the small islands of the Eastern Caribbean
have provided leadership in the struggle for the survival
of the concept and reality of “One Caribbean”.
The names Anderson of St. Vincent, Rawle of Dominica
and Marryshow of Grenada come readily to mind during
the pre-and-immediate-post-World War period, leading
up to the “Closer Union” Conference in
Montego Bay here in Jamaica, in 1947. They understood
then what the Calypsonian Stalin reminded us of later.
That we are one. Most came on the “same ship”,
even though at different times, from the same place.
This leadership continued through the period of the
Federation when the Windward and Leeward Islands contributed
much to the governance of that arrangement.
The
aftermath of the dramatic demise of the Federation
however, revealed to the smaller entities of the Eastern
Caribbean that they had to turn to themselves to advance
their destiny, even while they continued to yearn
for a wider commonness of purpose that they felt was
that appropriate historic destiny of the whole Caribbean.
Unless the trauma of that period when the “Little
Eight” was cast adrift, is understood, it would
be difficult for others to fully appreciate the caution
which has since been a characteristic of the OECS
grouping, in approaching the stage of wider Caribbean
integration, even as they pursue their own processes
of cooperation and unity. The fact that Member States
of the OECS are today not signature to the Declaration
inaugurating the CSME, but are instead signing a Declaration
of Intent, is consistent with the caution which we
have had to exercise throughout the course of evolution
from CARIFTA, to CARICOM, and now to CSME. And the
caution is well-grounded in self-interest and restrains
even those leaders in the OECS who are inclined to
proceed more swiftly. Indeed, some, not unreasonably,
think that the very signing of the Declaration of
Intent today is unnecessary since our word has always
been our bond. We sign today, nevertheless, out of
a sense of symbolic solidarity, not out of a legal
obligation. In 1968, as an adjunct to CARIFTA, which
it must be recalled, came into being with Antigua
and Barbuda as one of the originators, along with
Barbados and Guyana, the Eastern Caribbean States
and territories established the East Caribbean Common
Market, to enable themselves so that we could become
effective participants in the arrangements under CARIFTA.
When
CARIFTA evolved into CARICOM, the OECS grouping delayed
the moment of their signing until they were satisfied
that the new arrangement would cater to their special
concerns and vulnerabilities as micro states. But
sign on they did, one year later, and they have since
demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the process,
even during that problematic eight year period in
the nineteen seventies and early nineteen eighties
when there were no meetings of the Regional Heads
of Government, because the leadership of the larger
entities had difficulties in communicating any singleness
of purpose. Throughout the Common Market period, OECS
Member Sates were always among the first to proceed
with the implementation of decisions, whether these
were related to the phases of the Common External
Tariff (CET), or the Movement of skilled CARICOM nationals.
The collapse of the Caribbean Multi-lateral Clearing
Facility cannot be placed at the feet of the OECS.
We paid our way. So let there be no mistake. The OECS
stand proud of its record with regard to its commitment
to, and support for, regionalism, but we owe it to
the people of the OECS to ensure that our own strategic
interests must be safeguarded under any new arrangements.
When on 18th June, 1981, the Founding Fathers signed
the Treaty of Basseterre in the capital of St. Kitts
and Nevis, to bring into being the OECS, they did
so in full recognition of their obligations to the
wider Caribbean Community. Article 3.1(a) of the Treaty
of Basseterre, speaking to the purpose of the OECS,
states as follows: “To promote co-operation
among the Member States and at the Regional and International
levels having due regard to the Treaty establishing
the Caribbean Community….”.
The
OECS takes full cognizance of its geopolitical reality.
Its Member States are located at the very heart of
the Caribbean. We are an inextricable part of the
Caribbean Community, and we are integral to any arrangements
designed to advance the purpose of this Community.
The
CSME falls into that context. However, even as we
are integral to these processes, so too do we expect
that these very processes will ensure that we are
fully accommodated, and that all necessary measures
to assure that accommodation must be in place as provided
for within the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramus. It is
the commitment to such accommodation enshrined in
the Revised Treaty which provided the comfort which
we required to facilitate our signing. Today, we remain
mindful of the history to which I earlier alluded.
The
OECS has therefore taken the principled position that,
which we are fully committed to the process of regional
integration, and intend to be full participants in
the CSME, we must ensure that the provisions of the
Revised Treaty of Chaguaramus which speak to our own
special needs, are in effect. It is for this reason
that we have sought from the Community, the deferment
until the end of June for our full implementation
of the Treaty. This deferment has two objectives:
The first is to provide additional time to complete
the final legal processes in most of our Member States.
The second is to ensure that the modalities directed
by the Revised Treaty to facilitate our entry as effective
participants in the CSME, are fully operationalised.
As we applaud today’s signification of the operations
of the CSME, we do so not as a reluctant supporting
cast, but as full actors whose time for entry on the
stage is yet to come. Nevertheless, the story cannot
be complete without that entrance and without us fulfilling
our historic role in this process.
Even
as we ready ourselves to do this, we continue to advance
the cause of regional integration through the refashioning
of the Treaty of Bassetere, 1981, to enable the OECS
to move towards a more integrated policy and functional
space, in the proposed OECS Economic Union. It is
our intention to unveil the OECS Economic Union Treaty
on 18th June this year, as we celebrate the 25th anniversary
of our grouping. The proposed OECS Economic Union
will, within the framework of the rules and obligations
set out in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramus, enable
effective decision making, policy coordination, and
implementation of decisions within the sub region.
We view this momentous step as the most, if not the
only, realistic pathway to enhancing the quality of
lives of our people and to cement those achievements
of the Caribbean Civilisation within the wider community.
We view this historic step as a complement to the
CSME, and as further enabling the OECS to be effective
partners in the CSME, and the Caribbean Community.
We
are therefore saying to the rest of the Community,
that as we join you formally later on in this year,
we shall not be coming to the rearguard, but to the
vanguard of the regional integration process. It is
in this light that we celebrate today’s events
with great joy. Far from being symbolic, the event
celebrated here today stands out as a real milestone
in the forward journey of Caribbean Civilisation.
My
Brothers and Sisters, I thank you…..
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