Elizabeth Morgan | Outcomes from the 44th CARICOM Heads of Government Conference

Another CARICOM Heads of Government Conference has concluded and the communiqué has been published. As I indicated in my article of February 8 on the pending conference, the special guests did include the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau; the WTO Director General, Ngozi Ikonjo-Iweala; and the President of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Prof Benedict Oramah. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the approach of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s attack, also addressed the conference.

The heads considered and took decisions on a range of issues, which included the following:

COVID-19 AND OTHER EMERGING HEALTH ISSUES

– Emphasizing the need for a comprehensive response to the various health security issues and expressed concern about the low submission of surveillance data which would help the detection and response to infectious diseases like COVID-19, and mosquito-borne diseases. They also considered the continuing prevalence of non-communicable diseases, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. They supported CARPHA’s campaign to increase the level of COVID vaccination and immunization generally. Clearly, CARICOM has to prioritize health care with lessons which should have been learnt from COVID.

CARICOM SINGLE MARKET AND ECONOMY (CSME)

– They looked at progress being made in the CSME, which included amending the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas to provide for acquisition and mergers and concluding work on the Draft Regional Policy on Mergers and Acquisitions for approval by April 2023, as well as the Draft Policy on Regional Capital Markets.

They also considered a double role for the CARICOM Competition Commission and amendment to the Intra-CARICOM Double Taxation Agreement. The hope is that most of these documents will now be completed in time for the 45th Heads Conference in July. Of course, these have been in the CSME pipeline for a while.

ADVANCING THE CARICOM AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS AGENDA

– The focus is on achieving the 25 per cent increase in intra-regional food production and trade by 2025. They acknowledged the leadership of Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali. They want to see the CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO) accelerate the implementation of its agriculture investment projects. Implementation of this project would be a significant achievement in CARICOM.

BRIDGETOWN INITIATIVE FOR THE REFORM OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL ARCHITECTURE

– This is an initiative aimed at restructuring the global financial architecture to respond to the existential threats facing middle-income countries, many of which are Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and other developing countries. CARICOM heads intend to advocate for this initiative to be on the agenda of COP28 on Climate Change in the United Arab Emirates this year. Barbados and France have proposed an international summit on a new global financial pact to be held in Paris in June. Of course, this is an ambitious global undertaking which would have far-reaching implications.

CARICOM will be continuing high-level political advocacy amongst major economies to encourage greater ambition to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to promote specific issues of concern to SIDS, such as debt relief and oceans.

HAITI

- They reiterated that CARICOM had to play a leadership role in addressing the deteriorating situation in Haiti. An early meeting of stakeholders is to be held in Jamaica, recognizing that international partnerships are needed to support efforts to return Haiti to peace and stability, and paving the way for free, fair and credible elections. They also undertook to participate in another meeting in Haiti to develop a plan to restore security and the rule of law by Haitians. There is no doubt that Haiti provides CARICOM with one of its greatest challenges.

FUEL

– They acknowledged the rising cost of fuel globally, a result of the Ukraine-Russia war and a contributor to inflation. They agreed to urge the USA to remove sanctions on Venezuela to allow countries to benefit from the PetroCaribe initiative and further progress on the exploration of the cross-border natural gas fields between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. This is another interesting development for CARICOM members and participants in the 2005 PetroCaribe Agreement.

TRANSPORTATION

– Although this is not formally mentioned in the communiqué, it was clear from comments made in various speeches that air transportation, with the folding of LIAT, was a major problem in the region and required an urgent solution. It seems that the critical service provided to the region by LIAT was being recognized after the fact.

There is much more to be assessed resulting from this conference, as CARICOM now looks to the meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development, (COTED) possibly in April, and the 45th Heads Conference in Dominica, which will also mark the 50th anniversary of the Community.

CARICOM needs that introspection which I mentioned in my article of February 8, both at the regional and national levels.

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