Six leaders missed Caricom summit

The Antigua and Barbuda delegation
(Photo: Norman 'Gus' Thomas)

Sunday, November 16, 2003

GROS ISLET, St. Lucia: Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government ended the 9th Special Meeting in St. Lucia today with nearly half of its membership absent.

Six of the fifteen Regional Heads were absent from the two-day meeting triggering fears that this can created some delay in CARICOM's programme.

Prime Minister Lester Bird of Antigua and Barbuda, speaking minutes before leaving Castries for his homeland, expressed the view that the non-presence of the six has been a set back of sorts.

"This meeting was held specifically to deal with the question of governance, moving CARICOM to a more integrated position. What has happened is that the person, Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was told by his doctor that he had to take a week or two and rest due to exhaustion, as a result of that, in my humble opinion, the opportunity to discuss the region's governance was lost and therefore we were not able to discuss in anyway that very important element of the governance of CARICOM."

According to Mr. Bird the matter of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) was discussed, adding that there are at least four (4) countries that are ready to proceed. He noted that there was a question asked as to whether the four should go ahead or wait for the other CARICOM countries to pass the necessary legislation.

"In the case of Antigua and Barbuda, we are just about ready to pass our legislation because we need to do that in order to bring it in as a court of original jurisdiction to deal with Trade matters, etc." He said in order to have the Privy Council removed and replaced by the CCJ, there will first have to be a referendum in order for this to be done in his country.

Mr. Bird said the Regional Negotiating Machinery was also discussed including the question of the Free Trade Association of the Americas (FTAA).

"We held out as we did in Cancun, Mexico, that for small economies such as ours, you have to carve out special and differential arrangements for them or else they they will be marginalised and they will not get any benefits from the FTAA. He noted that Antigua and Barbuda argued strongly that there should be a social regime to deal with the whole question of small economies and this is being pursued very strenuously," he said.

Also absent were Dominica's Prime Minister Pierre Charles and Chief Minister of Montserrat John Osborne, both of whom are ill. Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur, who is responsible for spearheading moves towards the establishment of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), another critical Summit agenda item, and Haiti's President Jean Bertrand Aristide were the other CARICOM leaders not at the Summit. There was no reason given for their absence.

The other leader absent was Dr. Keith Mitchell of Grenada, who is campaigning for general elections slated for November 27.

However, Prime Minister Percival J. Patterson of Jamaica, the Community's current Chairman said, some work was done and expressed regret at the absence of so many leaders, adding that, their countries were well represented by persons with authority and competence and contributed fully to the deliberations.

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