Caribbean Single Market and Economy

19th January 2005

            I wish to thank you for this invitation to speak to you  about matters of public interest.  I wish to thank you for the support  of Rotary of the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, especially by the sponsoring of the mini United Nations programme.

            Today, I believe The Bahamas has a good reputation as a country.  We have a great a many admirers in the world who applaud our success as  small country, with a view in the world, sensible input into world decisions.  The work in foreign affairs has enhanced the country over the past two and half years.

            I am unrepentant an unreconstructed in my view that the higher profile of The Bahamas is good for The Bahamas.  I think that this profile is completely in step with the tenor of the times.  The teens, the 20 somethings, 30 somethings and forty somethings are very forward looking, and reaching out for every new opportunity there is in the world.  In many ways they are far out in front of the Government, and it seems to me that their Government ought to reflect their world view.

            You will know that we have advanced plans for an embassy in  Beijing, China.  Yesterday I received a letter from a Bahamian who has been working as  Professor at a Chinese University for almost three years.  This is a story that you find repeated everywhere that you travel.  Bahamians have been there and done it.

            And yet there is a section of the country that would have us fold up our tent, pretend that we can go into isolation, that The Bahamas is the centre of its own universe and that all roads lead here.  That is a fool's paradise.  The fact is The Bahamas must be proactive in what it does, if it is to protect itself into the future.  The outward flow, the higher profile, helps to create new opportunities for the people who live here, all the many young boys and girls who are coming up in the thousands behind us.  Of that I am absolutely certain.

            There needs of course to be a more vigorous debate about where we are headed into the future.  It was very interesting for me to read that in the year 2020, India and China will be the main competitors in the world for economic supremacy with the United States.  Over the last decade these countries have had phenomenal growth.  Each country has been engaged in significant outreach to The Bahamas.  It is an outreach which we need to accept and embrace.

            I was pleasantly surprised when I received many calls from Bahamians who wanted to know what their country was going to do to assist the victims of the tsunami disaster in Asia.  I had thought that our political critics would have won the day by their oft heard chorus that it is too far away from us, and has nothing to do with us.  The public has instead responded with great generosity even in the face of our own problems.

            In Abaco for example, Silbert Mills called to say that he had launched an appeal in his radio station and had collected $5,000 for relief of the tsunami victims.  When I leave here today, I will receive another donation; this time from Progressive Liberal Party for the tsunami relief fund.

            It shows me that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must be doing something right.  It is extremely important to have a world view.  Our children must be more and more exposed to this world view, and their role as citizens of the world.

            The response to the tsunami relief effort reinforces my view that the experts told us that this country has a carrying capacity which is significant for its size, and that with planning we have the resources within our grasp to help not only our own people recover from disaster but to help others as well.  I go further and say we have a moral obligation to help.  We must give.

             The public gets an opportunity to interface with the Ministry on a  regular basis.  We have a civil society group, which is headed by Freddie Munnngs that used to be headed by the late Reginald Lobosky.  Mr. Munnings who is a Rotarian and Marlon Johnson, who is a young businessman, also a member of the Civil Society consultation forum, are both now in Washington as part of the programme of the Organization of American States for civil society.  Each month, we try to meet to discuss some subject of national importance with the leaders of the country.  In the next month, we will launch the greater and what I hope is the final debate on the Caribbean Single Market and Economy or CSME.  This is a matter which the Cabinet has now authorized the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the Ministry of Trade and Industry to prepare a paper on where we go from here on CSME.  In my view the conclusion of this matter is doable this year with the right planning and management.

            I was therefore especially pleased yesterday to read in the Nassau Guardian a letter on the issue of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy by J. Barrie Farrington, who serves on the Trade Commission appointed by the Prime Minister to review the whole effort toward CSME, the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

            This is what Mr. Farrington wrote in part: “Here is what we should be doing: Government, on its own or through the Commission, should prepare a position paper on CSME in which there are crisp and clean recommendations on what the country should do with respect to CSME.

 “Timelines for each stage of the process such as presentation to Cabinet, presentation of the paper to Bahamians, analysis of responses from the country must be established and maintained.

“Commitment to a 6-8 month programme of consultations with Bahamians throughout the country.

“Provide the Commission with necessary resources including financial and human to carry out essential work without impediment.

“The time has come for the people of The Bahamas to be informed in one document how the country could be affected by full membership in CSME and what is considered to be the best course to adopt…

“Let there be no doubt that the decision to be taken by the country with respect to CSME is enormous.  We cannot afford to make a misstep, otherwise we will have to contend with and be tormented by serious consequences in the future.”

            I thank Mr. Farrington for his intervention.  It is particularly interesting because he is considered a conservative.  I believe he is right about a 6-8 month time frame.  That is precisely the one that has been embraced by the Government.  In fact in an ideal world, I would wish this concluded by the time the Prime Minister goes to the Heads of Government meeting in July.  It is a good idea to proceed by way of a white paper or a position paper on the matter.

            I must say though that I am still surprised that there should be any anxiety about this.  Yes there is no doubt that this is a serious move by The Bahamas but the gravity of it should not paralyze us.  This debate has simply gone on for long enough, and it should be patently clear for all to see that there is nothing at all to fear.

            When last I spoke on this subject publicly at the Nova University graduation in November of last year, the address was totally ignored, not one mention of the decisions that the Government had in fact taken.  Right after the speech, I was reminded therefore, when a political writer in Freeport wrote that there needed to be more public education and debate on CSME and that people needed to know what the Government’s position was; of the remark that the late Dr. Cleveland Eneas would make: “If you want to hide something from a Bahamian put it in writing”.

            It was made clear in that speech that the Government had heard the Bahamian people loud and clear with regard to certain reservations that they want us to negotiate if we enter the treaty arrangements.  One is an exemption from the provisions on the free movement of people.  Our Caricom partners have accepted that.  The Prime Minister of Barbados came here in August 2003 and said as much.  The Prime Minister of Jamaica has told us that he will come to The Bahamas to speak with the community here to answer any queries and questions on the subject.  The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago was here and he too sympathizes with the Bahamian position on the matter.  The fact is that they all a want us in.  They are prepared to negotiate our various positions on the Caribbean Court of Justice, on free movement of people, on tariff arrangements.  We need to be in, and not half in and half out.  It simply makes good geopolitical sense to do so.  I hope that all of us can agree and agree soon.

            Where I differ only slightly with Mr. Farrington is on the question of the danger of misstep.  I think that such danger is minimal, and one of the ways we ought to approach this is to lower the temperature on this, and not build it up with such drama that we frighten the wits out of people.

The fact is that in the short term signing on to the full Caricom provisions will not immediately make any change in the lives of the Bahamian people, but in the long term we will have positioned our country to take advantage of increased trade opportunities, access to capital, and to skills that we do not now have.  Any government in 2005 in The Bahamas must think and plan for the future, and I think that it is clear that CSME must be part of that future.  I do not see any down side.  The Caricom alliance is our most important relationship save and except for that between the United States and ourselves.

            It should also be clear to Bahamians, if it was not clear before, that our country has to cut its own way in the world.  The closing of the British Embassy here clearly shows that nations do not act out of sentiment but what they perceive to be in their best interests.  We may soon face a similar decision with the question of our final Court of Appeal.  It is clear that Britain is more and more Euro centric, and the Privy Council may not continue forever.

            In connection with this matter, therefore, I am pleased to present to you today copies of a booklet with 38 questions and answers that have been prepared by Ambassador Leonard Archer, the High Commissioner to Caricom.  He is the country’s foremost expert on Caricom matters.  This should answer any questions which you may have on the CSME and it’s potential impacts for The Bahamas.  Some 10,000 of these are to be printed and they will be widely distributed.  I  have brought copies for you here today.  I think this will more properly inform the debate on the matter, as we build toward that decision which must be made.  I ask for your support of the process as we move forward in this.

            I want to thank you all for inviting me once again, and I hope I can come back again quite soon.