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The Greater Caribbean this week - National
politics, regional economics
By
Norman Girvan, Contributor
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Girvan
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Regional
co-operation and integration are imperatives in the age of
globalisation. This is the lesson from a series of regional
meetings held recently within the Greater Caribbean. On August
23, Central American foreign ministers were meeting in San
Jose, Costa Rica, to review progress in Central American integration.
Cultural integration will be included: a Central American
television channel is under consideration.
Costa
Rica, the current Chair of the Central American Integration
System (SICA), plays a strategic role. It has recently negotiated
a draft free trade agreement with Trinidad and Tobago, which
is to become the basis for a Costa Rica-CARICOM Free Trade
Agreement (FTA). It also has a large community on its Caribbean
coast with historic ties to the islands.
The
San Jose meeting was also due to consider a Plan of Action
for cooperation with CARICOM, arising out of the first ever
Central American-CARICOM summit held in February in Belize.
Trade, the environment, health and education are the chief
areas of cooperation that have been identified.
Earlier
in the week, Central American Vice Ministers of Trade and
the Economy had met to agree on the agenda for negotiations
with the United States for the proposed Central America-United
States (CA-US) FTA.
Approval
of Trade Promotion Authority for the U.S. Administration last
month has placed these negotiations on the front-burner. Even
as the US continues to give high priority to the Free Trade
Area of the Americas (FTAA) process, negotiations with Central
America and Chile will be pursued.
The
Central American meeting achieved substantial agreement on
the negotiating agenda and leaders are expressing optimism
that the CA-US FTA could be concluded within one year.
One
contentious issue is that of U.S. agricultural subsidies that
may impact market access for Central America's agricultural
exports. But this may be deferred to the World Trade Organisation,
rather than included in the CA-US negotiations.
However,
much technical work needs to be done to prepare for the negotiations,
for example in the area of services. Several countries are
expressing the need for financial and technical assistance
for this purpose.
Central
America also agrees that it will need to complete its customs
union and unification of customs administrations as a precondition
for the operation of an FTA with the U.S. Regional integration
and trade liberalisation will go hand in hand.
Meanwhile,
the Dominican Republic is preparing to host a crucial meeting
of the FTAA Trade Negotiating Committee on August 8-30, this
year. Vice Ministers from most Greater Caribbean countries
are expected to attend.
The
meeting will agree on the package of proposals to be submitted
to the FTAA Ministerial meeting due for Ecuador in October,
this year. The issues include market access, Government procurement,
the treatment of small economies, special and differential
treatment and base tariff rates for the FTAA--all of vital
importance to the region.
Representatives
of civil society continue to point to the need for a stronger
social dimension to the FTAA. Recently, the President of the
Latin American Parliament (PARLACEN) called for a programme
of social investment to accompany the FTAA. This is similar
to the proposal for a Regional Development Fund endorsed at
the third Association of Caribbean States Summit.
The
special CARICOM Summit on the Economy in St. Lucia in mid-August
and the technical meeting in Barbados the following week were
other signs of the imperative of regionalism in the face of
economic challenges.
While
politics is national, economics and economic relations are
becoming regional, hemispheric and global.
Professor
Norman Girvan is Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean
States. The views expressed are not necessarily the official
views of the ACS. Feedback can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org.
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