Press release 74/2001
(21 May 2001)

I am extremely pleased, on behalf of the Government and people of Guyana to extend to you a warm welcome to the opening of this Fourth Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations.

Mindful of the importance of our deliberations, we have done our utmost to ensure that they lead to the further strengthening of the Caribbean Community and more particularly, to the definition of a clear vision and strategy by which we may hope to secure peace, stability and sustainable development for our Region and our peoples.

At the outset, I must confess that as newest Minister on the Caribbean scene, I cannot help but feel some trepidation on assuming the Chairmanship of this forum. Because of my newness, I cannot pretend to have the experience and wisdom which many of you have acquired over the years in addressing the many issues of interest and concern to the Region. Nevertheless, it is highly fortuitous, I believe, that my first Ministerial responsibility is the Chairmanship of this important regional meeting. I therefore hope that with your advice and cooperation, I will be able to do justice to the meeting.

By way of an introduction to the agenda of our meeting I would like nonetheless to offer a few random observations on some of the issues which will arise for our consideration.

The characteristics of the political environment in which we must now function are all too familiar, requiring not so much description as analysis and action. The prevailing power-structure in the post cold war era leaves little space for small entities such as CARICOM to function freely. The ideology which underpins the structure does not easily tolerate the political pluralism which has historically been the hall-mark of our Caribbean society. Nor does it seem to attach any significant geo-strategic importance to small states such as ours which it deems too insignificant and incapable of threatening its dominance.

No less demanding than these political determinants are the attendant economic and social forces. Globalisation and trade liberalisation, which are among the standard-bearers of the current neo-liberal ideology have had a profound impact on international economic relations. Without a doubt, they have expanded the horizon for economic prosperity. At the same time, however, they have exposed countries such as ours in the Caribbean to the vagaries of the free market, and made them easy prey to marginalisation from the world economy. In the face of such exclusion, our only recourse would seem to be to go on some form of international dole. This is a fate worse than death and one which we must avoid at all cost.

The continuing threat to the exports of our basic products such as bananas, rice, rum and sugar, as well as the difficulties encountered in the area of financial services have awakened us to the urgency of defending our economic life-lines. The creation of the Regional Negotiating Machinery was an important first step toward mounting a common defence, and enhancing the decision-making process in the Region. We must seek, however, to further strengthen it, in anticipation of drafting the Agreement for a Free Trade Area of the Americas.

CARICOM Heads of Government are now clearly committed to the pursuit of economic diplomacy to achieve their development objectives. The President of Guyana H.E. Bharrat Jagdeo, for example has clearly stated our Government's intention to fully empower our people to allow them to live in larger freedom. The Foreign Services of our countries must accordingly be reorganised and revitalised to address these priorities. This is as it should be since our ability to influence the outcome of negotiations in the trade and economic areas will depend ultimately on our ability to develop and pursue a new and more vibrant diplomacy that will better enable us to achieve our goals.

Diplomacy - simply defined - is the art of negotiation to secure our vital interests. And negotiations, a word which as any fifth form Latin student will be able to tell you, comes from negotium -no idleness or business. Therefore, for our diplomacy to be effective, we must make the pursuit of regional security - whether it be political, economic or social - a full time business. And we must be sure to equip it with the necessary resources to allow it to perform efficiently and effectively.

The development of such diplomatic capacity is urgent since there are several multilateral processes such as Financing for Development and the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas which will quickly gain momentum and require specialised attention. There is also the prospect of another trade round under the aegis of the World Trade Organisation. Nor must we forget the other important events on this year's calendar including the Special Session on HIV/AIDS, the Conference on the Illegal Trafficking of Small Arms and the Reviews of Rio +10 and the Children's Summit - all of which deal with issues that are critical to our overall security. We must prepare sufficiently for these events if we hope to influence their outcome.

Such preparation is vital since the global agenda has clearly become not only more extensive but also more complex and difficult to manage. Indeed it now increasingly encompasses issues that go well beyond the purview of traditional foreign ministries. As a result, the management of external relations has become a cross-cutting concern for governments as a whole. CARICOM states will thus be continuously be challenged to find a unified approach to the questions which must be addressed and to ensure that they are suitably represented in all important fora.

If I may turn now from the economic and social milieu, I will say a few words on our political environment. Development is obviously difficult if not impossible to achieve where there is no peace and stability. Fortunately, our community has been spared the severe trauma of conflict which has been inflicted on so many other parts of the world. It would, however, be foolish for us to think we are immune from contagion since failure to take preventive measures can readily lead to infection. We must therefore be careful to ensure that democracy, dialogue, tolerance and the rule of law are allowed to prevail in our societies. These after all are the pre-requisites for peace, stability and development.

At the same time, we must be alert to external threats to our security. Some of our countries are enmeshed in serious controversies which impinge on our territorial integrity and impede our economic and social progress. All are exposed to more subtle forms of political and economic coercion from dominant states. It is therefore imperative that we remain vigilant against these threats and be ready to defend ourselves with the unity and solidarity that are our principal armour against aggression.

In sum, the challenges to our common welfare are so overwhelming that as small and vulnerable states, we cannot hope to overcome them with our limited means. Accordingly, we must develop the necessary imagination and flexibility, to adapt to the new environment to ensure our self-preservation.

It is perhaps not without significance, I believe, that one of the Caribbean's most popular folk heroes is Brer Anancy the small but wily spider who was able to compensate for his size by using his brain.

For though small ourselves, we too can survive and succeed through strategic thinking.

Our common history and experiences have in fact, taught us that intellect is not the preserve of the large and powerful. Small states too can sway the world with the power of their ideas. One recalls for example, that it was the tiny nation of Malta that first advanced the concept of the Law of Sea which though belittled when it was first advanced, today governs a significant area of international relations. It should therefore not be too difficult for the Caribbean Community, which has produced two Nobel Laureates and exercised a role in international affairs that is out of all proportion to its size, to fulfill its development aspirations.

Success will only come to us, however if our cooperation is animated by a spirit of confidence and trust. In other words, it must be based on collective rather than narrow nationalistic aspirations . Too often as we know in cricket, when our players fail to cooperate as a team., they invariably face ignominious defeat. However when they can get their act together and play intelligently, there is no stopping them. The greatest challenge therefore, to our Community at this stage of our history, is the development of a sense of unity and solidarity to allow us to create what the distinguished Caribbean economist, William Demas called the "critical mass" that is now urgently needed to ensure our survival in a rapidly globalising world.

Essential also to our success is the strength of our CARICOM Secretariat. Over the years, the Secretariat has served the Community faithfully and well. We need now however, to strengthen it further to enhance our own representation at the many specialised conferences which now regularly take place in virtually every area of human activity. As things stand at the moment, because of inadequate planning and resources, participation by member states in some of these processes is minimal or worse yet, absent entirely. We would therefore do well to augment our diplomatic capacity through mechanisms of joint representation. Moreover, since most of us do not have the luxury of time to do much strategic thinking, it would be helpful to access the reservoir of knowledge which exists in our universities and other institutions of higher learning.

Even so, to cope with our ever-widening agenda, we must reach out to involve the private sector and civil society as a whole which must be seen not only as beneficiaries of Government's development policies, but also as partners in their formulation and implementation. The private sector and non governmental organisations in our respective countries often command resources which, if added to our own, can dynamise development. The Encounter with Civil Society planned to take place later this year is a timely initiative for engaging in a serious dialogue with all actors on the regional stage with a view to harmonising our agendas for the realisation of the common good.

Perhaps the time has come when our Foreign Ministries should think of creating a mechanism for enlisting the public, including the use of e-diplomacy through which we can interact with our citizens and make them aware of the challenges and threats which we face. Perhaps too we should make the study of international affairs and CARICOM's role therin an integral part of our school's curricula so that the young generation may become seized of the importance of our external relations to our national lives. Too often the foreign services in our countries are seen - as their name suggests - to be alien from the society and thus are denied the public support required for optimal performance.

At the international level, we must aim to strengthen the programmes of cooperation with our traditional developed partners and the countries of Latin America. Our active engagement in the hemispheric process will open up new vistas for the expansion of our economies. So too will our renewed relationship with Europe and a firm outreach to the Middle Eastern and Asian countries including the tiger and dragon economies (whether crouching or hidden). Indeed we must extend our association to other developing and like-minded states which, because of shared interests, can help us to maximise our representation in the world's Councils. Two groupings which offer opportunities for such cooperation are the Forum on Small States and the Association of Small Island States. From under these umbrellas, we can better advance our priorities within the larger and more eclectic bodies such as the Commonwealth, the Group of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement and indeed, the wider United Nations system.

Honourable Prime Minister, Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, Mr. Secretary-General, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Agenda of this Fourth Meeting of CARICOM Foreign Ministers has been framed, I believe, to elicit from us the strategic thinking which is necessary to the further consolidation of our regional foreign policy. Following the review of our foreign policy options begun in St. Kitts and Nevis in 1999, an evaluation has been made of the Joint Commissions machinery as an instrument for deepening political, economic and technical cooperation with other states. And over the past few days, here in Georgetown and on the tranquil island of Baganara in the Essequibo, our senior officials have pondered on the wider aspects of our international relations. Their Report is now before us. Let us at this Fourth COFCOR meeting, attempt to build on these ideas so that, before much too long, we will have a clear foreign policy strategy and an action programme for its effective implementation.

I thank you.

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