Byron Blake | Paths for Jamaica and CARICOM in new international disorder

The Old International Economic Order, which emerged after World War II with the United States of America as the fulcrum, has been permanently fractured. The fracture has become most visible in the World Trading System (WTO) with President Trump’s unilateral tariff imposition on all Organisation members. The other two components of the global system- the financial system under the Bretton Woods Institutions (the IMF and the World Bank), and the political governance system (the UN and the Security Council) have long been recognised as in need of fundamental reform.

Developing countries have maintained that a system designed by and for a small number of mainly European or countries with large percentages of European descendants, at relatively similar levels of development, cannot accommodate an increasing number of countries of vastly different sizes, cultures, and stages of development from Africa, Asia, the Middle and Far East, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Pacific Ocean. They advocated for a New International Economic Order since the 1970s.

This was torpedoed by the powerful political and business interests who controlled and benefited from the then-existing system, including the overexploitation of the natural environment. The latter, which has systematically worsened over the last 50 years, poses an existential threat to many small islands and low-lying coastal States in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, Africa, and the Caribbean. But even those institutional arrangements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to manage this man-made global threat have been rendered impotent by the same powerful vested interests.

In this environment of uncertainty, confusion, and disorder, Countries and groups are scrambling to find new alignments.

This trade crisis provides a window for CARICOM states to assess objectively their prospects in this global economic environment. That assessment must be done conscious that any economic strategy can be obliterated by one climate change-related event. So, they must remain laser-focused on the climate-related negotiations, while looking for any opportunities to survive economically for as long as Mother Nature withholds its worst.

POSSIBLE OPPORTUNITIES

There are opportunities for CARICOM, but its policymakers and economic actors must:

• recognise that they are a community of small producers with a highly unionised and mobile labour force.

• that small operators, whether countries or companies, need to cooperate rather than compete among themselves.

• depend on resources or assets that are uniquely Caribbean or have a high Caribbean content, patentable, and not easily duplicated.

• accept that they must invest significantly in education and training, research, development, and application focused on the new areas of potential strength.

• also recognise that the Caribbean is a service economy, but with good prospects for value-added industries rooted in its rich biodiversity, renewable energy resources, and the blue economy.

In that context, what are some areas of opportunity for the Caribbean?

First, the Caribbean comprises a collection of beautiful, differently endowed islands randomly located in a large, relatively calm tropical sea. This allows for (a) the joint promotion of multi-destination tourism; (b) the development and promotion of a yachting industry to include the homeporting of yachts of varying sizes; the promotion of international regattas, especially in the Northern winter season; and the servicing/maintaining and crewing of Yachts; and (c) the promotion of water-based sporting activities, such as scuba diving, canoeing, sailing, surfing and angling.

Second, the Caribbean Sea links (i) North and South America, (ii) Asia and the Far East with Europe via the Panama Canal, and (iii) Parts of North, Central, and South America with Europe and Africa. This strategic location provides the opportunity to offer a range of marine-related logistical services such as transshipment, repairs and maintenance, refuelling, and provisioning and victualling. These services are critical to maritime efficiency and depend on good management, careful planning, highly skilled personnel, and effective technological, including information, systems. They are good money earners for investors and workers.

Like the sea-space, the Caribbean has a large airspace. This is fragmented into some 12 national Flight Information Regions (FIRs). There have been proposals to create a single Caribbean FIR. This should be vigorously pursued. It will reduce costs, enhance efficiency, facilitate sustainability, generate credibility of the overall system, and maintain confidence in travel to the Region.

Third, the Caribbean comprises countries with populations drawn from a range of ethnicities- Africa, India, Europe, China, the Middle and Far East, and the Indigenous Caribbean and Americans. This allows the region to provide the World with a wide variety of cultural, artistic, culinary, musical, and sporting experiences through the year. It already has well-known brands in many of these areas. Technology now allows creatives and managers to package and market these experiences globally. The Governments need to support them with facilitative logistical facilities, strong Intellectual Property Rights legislation, and effective administrative arrangements.

Fourth, as a community of single and multi-island states, CARICOM has a vast array of indigenous plants and animals. Many of these plants and herbs are known or reputed to have medicinal or other beneficial properties. To date, CARICOM Governments have done little or nothing to (i) protect these plants and herbs, (ii) research or incentivise research into the potential benefits of these plants and herbs. These can be important economic assets that cannot be duplicated, although the active ingredients can be extracted and patented. That has happened. The situation must change. CARICOM must now (a) prioritise action to identify and protect potentially valuable indigenous plants and herbs; (b) encourage and incentivise public institutions and private entities to research, pilot test, and, where feasible, invest in the development of marketable products.

There is need for decisive action by CARICOM governments on this front, even as they participate in all efforts to modify international conditions.

Ambassador Byron Blake is former deputy permanent representative of Jamaica to the United Nations and former assistant secretary general of CARICOM. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com