Elizabeth Morgan | Outcomes of the 10th OACPS Summit

This week, following on from my article last week, I am addressing specifically the 10th Summit of Heads and State and Government of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) held in Luanda, Angola, December 9-10, 2022. It is the supreme decision-making body of the organisation.

This summit was actually held only on December 9, as African leaders were scheduled to attend the US/Africa Summit in Washington, DC, December 13-15. Another clash of summits, it seems.

I am addressing this OACPS Summit, which has received little media coverage in this region and to which attendance of Caribbean heads has been poor, because the Caribbean, then CARICOM, played a very important role in the founding of the original ACP Group, between 1973 and 1975.

Having heard a Caribbean government minister, in an interview, struggle to explain the difference between CARICOM and CARIFORUM, let me again state that CARIFORUM is the ‘C’ for Caribbean in the OACPS. CARIFORUM is 16 Caribbean countries which are members of the OACPS having signed the Georgetown Agreements establishing the group.

The 16 countries are Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. 14 of these countries are members of CARICOM, and CARICOM includes Haiti and Suriname, not just the Commonwealth Caribbean countries.

The Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Hon Phillip Davis, attended the OACPS Summit, thus along with the Vice President of Cuba, Ricardo Cabrisa Ruiz, provided representation at the heads level for the Caribbean. The other Caribbean countries were represented at ministerial and ambassadorial levels. The Bahamas will assume the chairmanship of CARIFORUM in July 2023. PM Davis brought greetings at the summit on behalf of the CARIFORUM member states.

With the Maldives becoming the newest member of the OACPS, the membership has returned to 79. The members did note the withdrawal of South Africa and hoped that this significant country would reconsider its position.

In their statements, the Caribbean countries recognised that the OACPS alliance of 79 countries has common interests and speaking with one voice has strength in the multilateral arena. Among those addressing the summit were the UN Secretary General António Guterres, the Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland, and Charles Michel, president of the European Council.

BUSINESS FORUM

The summit, December 6-8, included a Business Forum. For years, it has been proposed that intra-ACP trade should be promoted. With CARICOM focusing on strengthening trade and investment with Africa, I noted that there was some level of Caribbean representation at this forum. Participating, I am informed, were Marc Persaud, director of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and Andrew Satney, executive director of the St Kitts/Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

OUTCOME OF THE SUMMIT

Under the theme ‘Three Continents, Three Oceans, One Common Destiny: Building a Sustainable and Resilient OACPS’, the heads and representatives addressed a range of issues: global challenges; climate change and biodiversity; food insecurity; challenges to peace and insecurity; debt; road safety; diaspora engagement; relationship with the European Union; building knowledge-based economies; fostering investment and competitiveness; economic and trade issues; value chains; and MSME competitiveness. These are important areas of cooperation for development within the OACPS and with global partners particularly with the EU.

Issues of specific interest to the Caribbean include:

Climate change – confirming their commitment to combating climate change, taking account of the outcomes from COP27 especially as it relates to financing and the impact on Small Island Developing States (SIDS);

Food insecurity – calling for international support in developing national food transformation systems;

Debt – calling for assistance through the IMF to address accumulated debt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine;

List of Non-cooperative Jurisdictions for Tax purposes – calling on the EU and its member states to cooperate with the OACPs in having structured dialogue for good fiscal governance and financial integrity in the common interest;

EU partnership – calling on the EU to resolve the issues which have prevented the signing of the post-Cotonou Agreement for which negotiations were completed in 2021, and calling on the EU to address trade issues with the OACPS under the existing Economic Partnership Agreements.

The Declaration from this 10th OACPS Summit should be available on the website of OACPS Secretariat and will be sent to the UN, WTO, EU and other multilateral bodies.

The President of Angola, João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, will be OACPS President in Office until the 11th Summit. The host and date of the 11th session is to be determined. CARIFORUM countries have hosted few ACP/OACPS meetings in the 21st century– Suriname hosted the ACP/EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in 2012 and The Bahamas hosted the ACP Ministers of Fisheries and Aquaculture in September 2017.

The only summit to be held in the Caribbean was the second held in the Dominican Republic in November 1999. So, perhaps, to demonstrate commitment, there is a summit for the Caribbean to consider collectively hosting in either 2024 or 2025. Is this feasible or desirable?

Elizabeth Morgan is a specialist in international trade policy and international politics. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com