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Apedemak
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| Joined: | Sunday October 17th, 2004 |
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Posted: Tuesday September 19th, 2006 15:45 |
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Greetings of perfect peace and Love
Pls circulate this to your Imails.article from David jessop Director of Carribbean Council who looks at issues specifically to do with the Caribbean and ACP states, the caribbean as a region is going to be or has already been split into zones, so some them wont even have an opportunity to say anything, majority of these small places who claim to be independent, a state by themselves, have to run every time with their long begging bowls for their pass and present colonilal masters to feed them;; how pathetic can any one get, how can the hypocrites who runs these places claim to be concerned about the plight o ftheir people, these people who continue to promote individualism amongst the region are mentlly insane, they cannot see that by not joining everthing as one caribbean no travel/restrictions etc currency, etc, health, education, juridial/ research/development etc then none o fthem will or can have nay long term future, apart from sellingout to China or India, which is going on a rapid right now not only in that region but also in Afrika, places like Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, not to mention Sudan etc..The Caribbean is a creation of European Imperialists who want it to remain as it was, the puppets as mentioned earlier who are suppose to be in power as they were elected by the people are totaly confused and really are sell outs awaiting their Lordships and Sirships from who every, they are not interested in African people empowerment, as this would aggravate their own..There may be one Prime Minister in the Caribbean who is honest, perhaps of Monseratt.. the rest should be sent on a journey into space..
Blessed Love
Ras messenger
A little later this year Britain’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair, his Barbadian counterpart Owen Arthur and some two hundred business leaders from the Caribbean and Europe are expected to participate in a conference in London that will focus on the new Caribbean economy and the opportunities it presents for investment.
This unique event, which is by invitation only, follows from private exchanges in Malta last November between the British Prime Minister and Caribbean Heads of Government during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
At that time the British Prime Minister personally committed himself to helping the region define how it might make itself more attractive to investment and to providing an opportunity to showcase new business opportunities in key sectors such as tourism, services and a new agricultural economy.
What makes this Government-facilitated meeting very different from what has gone before is that it is about the Caribbean of the future rather than a debate about the past. It recognises that within the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) it will be the private sector in the form of the region’s top fifty or so companies and external investors that are going to provide the capital for development.
For this reason the emphasis at the event will be on avoiding set piece speeches and large government delegations in favour of encouraging through pro-active chairmanship, debate and contact between private sector participants from the Caribbean and Europe.
Central to much of the subject matter is the assumption that for the CSME to succeed, large and successful businesses from the region and beyond have to take advantage of the facilitating environment that governments, regional institutions and trade negotiators are creating. It starts from the premise that the new Caribbean is not going to be dominated by Government intervention in the economy.
While it is true that there are many in the region who feel uncomfortable with what this means in terms of ceding economic power, the reality is that the Anglophone Caribbean has few alternatives. The gradual ending of preference for commodities and the extension of similar levels of market access to Latin America and other middle ranking developing economies by Europe, suggests that to ensure the creation of competitive industries, Government’s role has to be more about the facilitation of enterprise and investment and less about control.
In this, what is sometimes misunderstood is that the choice is not between either free ranging capitalism of the United States variety and the initiative-crushing Soviet style of command economy. Reality lies somewhere in between and is on a long continuum between the socially oriented liberal economic model developed by the nations of Scandinavia and the politically directed but market driven approaches of a country like Vietnam.
What both ends of this continuum have in common is a recognition that through competitiveness and by encouraging the dynamic force of the market and the consequent profit ands efficiencies that arise, Government will be better able to achieve the revenues it requires to deliver the programmes for which it was elected.
For much of the last decade Caribbean Governments and the majority of the public sector have been reluctant to accept that by ceding elements of their economic power the state can actually become stronger.
However this now seems to be changing and economies are being restructured. For proof that less government can turn around a weak economy, albeit with a significant levels of pain, look at Dominica. Despite it structural disadvantages and the continuing decline of its banana industry, it has experienced two years of steady growth (3.6 per cent in 2004 and around 2 per cent in 2005) and has seen a significant increase in Government revenues.
Even nations with strong and inherited left leaning ideological views are beginning to think differently. Speaking recently about his intentions for his second full term in office, Guyana’s President, Bharrat Jagdeo, made clear that he intends placing a new emphasis on encouraging business development, entrepreneurship and competitiveness.
For the last four years the World Bank has published a study and accompanying tables on the business climate and the economic reforms being undertaken in most but not all nations. This measures on a country by country basis the approach taken by all nations to ten areas of business ranging from licensing through investment protection to paying taxes and enforcing contracts.
Although the study has limitations, it provides a useful snapshot of which Caribbean nations are more business ready and liable to provide a competitive environment for national, regional and international investors. For the most part, the Anglophone Caribbean scores relatively well with only Guyana being outside of the top one hundred nations. But perhaps more significantly the report shows that business reform in China is surging ahead and that Africa is beginning to eclipse Latin America in its rate of reform of the business enabling environment.
The London conference will in many senses be the measure of how much Caribbean thinking has changed. It is based on the premise that within two decades the Caribbean could be a very different place with vibrant economies based on services, tourism, manufacturing and a new and more closely related agricultural economy.
This is a theme that suggests a revolution in thinking about investment and the role and interrelationship between the public and private sectors is required and that such thinking must become common if the CSME is to succeed.
To date rapid adaptation is not something for which the region is well known.
In London in November investors and those who influence economic decisions will be listening carefully and questioning closely the regions commitment to change and its readiness to create a new Caribbean economy.
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Please read and pass this on.
Ms Vusa Mazulu
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