Press release 198/2004
(30 November, 2004)

Ms. Thecla Deterville, President of the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture
Mr. Brian Louisy, Executive Director of the Chamber
Other Members of the Chamber's Management Committee
Other Members of the Chamber
Members of the Media
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

I am truly delighted to be sharing this milestone event with you. Your 120th year of service in consistently promoting and sustaining "a healthy political, economic and social environment in which free enterprise and ethical business practice can flourish in harmony with the development of the Saint Lucia community", as stated in your motto, is indeed a milestone worthy of note. I thank you for your kind invitation and bring you greetings on behalf of the Staff of the CARICOM Secretariat as indeed the Governments and Peoples of your sister CARICOM countries.

The theme of your 120th Annual General Meeting - Self Assessment: Preparing for the Global Challenge - indicates to me that your organisation is forward-looking, cognizant that you are operating not only at a local, national or even regional level, but rather in a global context. That global context is one characterised by a process of increasing liberalisation with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) playing a prominent role in the trade related aspects. You may have noticed, for example, the determination announced by the Heads of State/Government attending the recent APEC Summit in Santiago, Chile to push ahead with the global trade talks under the Doha Round. Your exercise in self-assessment is therefore timely, given the powerful forces with which you must contend today, not tomorrow.

I am sure it is no news to you when I say that the world, which existed when your Chamber was established, or for that matter in 1979 when Saint Lucia became independent, no longer exists.

It is not simply that the notions of mercantilism and colonial protection that existed at the birth or your organisation in the Nineteenth century gave way in the 1970s to guaranteed markets and preferential prices in Europe for your agricultural products, but even that post colonial economic relationship with the metropolitan centre is now on the brink of collapse under WTO-induced and other challenges. The resulting changes to the market access regime for bananas for example, has already resulted in significant damage to the industry in Caribbean Societies like Dominica and Saint Lucia.

Even greater dislocations are yet to come. Europe has already served notice that WTO mandates and its own self-interest induced reassessment of other agricultural regimes, will inevitably lead to new arrangements that are less favourable to our producers and furthermore, will pit us against the giant producers of Europe itself, North America, South America and elsewhere. The proposed imminent reform of the Sugar Regime is a classic case in point.

The immediate consequence for us of all of these developments is a serious threat to jobs and income, and ultimately to economic and social stability.

I believe that the theme of your AGM recognises these fast and fundamentally changing dynamics and accepts the inevitable need to prepare yourselves through the better and more efficient use of technology, natural resources and other factors of production for the greater diversification of economic activity, to meet the challenges of this new era that is already upon us.

First of all, in the pursuit of your self assessment to prepare for the global challenge, I would be less than honest if I led you to believe that your Organisation and indeed your country, could successfully find a sustainable and secure place in the world by going it alone. None of our countries can successfully do so in the current global environment, if it hopes to deliver to its people the quality of life to which they rightly aspire. None. It's a clear case of 'united we stand or divided we fall'. That being understood, we must accept that there will be genuine questions regarding the sharing of costs and benefits. However, these questions do not negate the basic premise - United we Stand; Divided we Fall.

Your timely self-assessment comes on the cusp of a new era in the economic life of our CARICOM Region - one in which your Organisation representing as it does, a wide spectrum of businesses in Saint Lucia, is well placed to play a major role.

What is this new era of which I speak? It is the establishment and emergence of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy - the CSME. Permit me to outline the main features of this enterprise.

CARICOM, as you no doubt know, comprises the following Member States: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. This is a grouping of fifteen countries with a population of 15 million; and with Saint Lucia's contribution being approximately 160,000 - that is just over one per cent of the Community's population.

There are two elements of the CSME - the Single Market and the Single Economy. The Single Market is created by the removal of all restrictions - tariffs, quotas, foreign exchange controls, etc - on the free movement of goods, services, capital and skilled labour among CARICOM Member States. It also provides for the right of all CARICOM nationals to establish businesses in any Member State and be treated as a national of that Member State. These are the core features of the Single Market and they are expected to be in place by the end of 2005 - designed the Year of the CSME. Many, like the free movement of goods, are already in place.

The Single Economy involves the adoption by Member States, of coordinated and harmonized macro-economic policies and programmes for the production of internationally competitive goods and services. This element is to come on stream by 2008. The Single Economy will be guided by a comprehensive Regional Development Strategy, the basic outline of which is expected to be ready for adoption at the Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government in Suriname in February 2005. In essence, the CSME is a single economic space within which all Member States and their citizens - natural and legal - would be entitled to operate without discrimination.

A vital sector for Saint Lucia and indeed for much of the Region in that Strategy, will be agriculture - a sector which I note your Organisation has maintained as a key component of its nomenclature. Despite the various structural changes, which have taken place in your economy, I note that agriculture contributed approximately 5 per cent to the 2003 GDP (in constant 1990 prices) and employed some 8.5 per cent of the national workforce. This sector is also responsible for the bulk of your merchandise exports. Within it, the banana sub-sector continues to enjoy a preeminent place and with diversification can continue to do so. Let me show you a byproduct of the banana plant, which I found in India. [demonstrates a table napkin made of banana stalk]. With our tourism industry can we not have a sizeable market for this kind of product!

Saint Lucia has been strongly supportive of regional initiatives for agricultural development, especially the Regional Transformation Programme for Agriculture. This programme provides the strategic framework for agricultural development within the community with a view to making this critical sector internationally competitive. A key element of the Programme is the re-orientation of private sector stakeholders in agriculture to recognise their new roles and responsibilities towards the success of the sector. In this regard, I urge the Chamber to encourage its agriculture membership to be affiliated with the Regional Agri-Business Association (CABA) and to align themselves to benefit from the programmes that will flow from CABA. One must admit however, that this programme has not yet taken off satisfactorily.

There are of course many other sectors especially in the area of services such as Tourism, Financial Services and Informatics, which can be of no less importance to Saint Lucia's effective involvement in the CSME.

An essential component of the CSME is the Regime for Disadvantaged Countries, Regions and Sectors, which includes the creation of a Development Fund for the purpose of providing financial and/or technical assistance. This Fund was recognised by CARICOM Heads of Government at their recent Tenth Special Meeting in Port of Spain as "…essential to enable small states to liberalise their markets without undue dislocation and must be in place by 2005."

The Regime, which is outlined in chapter 7 of the Revised Treaty and spans articles 146 to167, is a fundamental aspect of the Revised Treaty bearing as it does, on the critical question of the distribution of costs and benefits of the integration process. One bit of advice I would dare to give you, is that you would do well to call for a dedicated evaluation of the content, effect and implementation of the provisions of this Regime.

That is the broad framework of the single economic space, which the CSME will represent. In their Statement from the Tenth Special Meeting, Heads of Government reaffirmed their resolve to advancing the regional integration movement as a vehicle for the sustainable economic and social development of CARICOM Member States and their peoples. In that regard, they reiterated their conviction of the logic of the CSME and its benefits.

But some, if not all, of you will no doubt be saying in your minds - that's all well and good but will they implement it? - You know CARICOM! Moreover you may ask, what's in it for us here in Saint Lucia?

Implementation of the CSME will depend on all of us - our governments, our CARICOM Institutions, including the CARICOM and OECS Secretariats, you the members of the Private Sector, the representatives of the Labour Movement and Civil Society at large. It is our joint responsibility and none of us can afford to shirk it. This is not a time or a game for finger pointing and shifting of responsibility or blame. It is a time for all to come on board and play their part.

You the Private Sector are the engine of growth and therefore have a major role to play. Only last week Private Sector representatives from across the Region - including the CAIC, SAGICOR, RBTT and Grace Kennedy joined CARICOM Heads of Government at their Tenth Special Meeting in Port of Spain, to help chart the way forward.

The Labour Movement's impact was also evident at that Special Meeting, as the Heads of Government in response to the demands of that sector, agreed to expand the categories of workers to be eligible for free movement within the Community, beyond the current list of graduates, media workers, artistes, musicians and sports persons.

Despite the evident worthwhile progress which the Port-of-Spain Meeting revealed, it is equally evident that the pace towards achieving the full CSME needs to be quickened for a number of reasons - the oncoming FTAA perhaps quickening after the recent US elections; the CARIFORUM/European Union EPA negotiations, those also possibly accelerating with the seating of a new European Union Commission by next Monday; growing internal social pressures and most importantly, the increasing blast of globalization on our small vulnerable economies. It is against that background that your self-assessment is taking place.

It is therefore my deep hope that you, the Private Sector of Saint Lucia, will play your full part in your country's efforts to become CSME ready by the end of 2005, as you will be among the prime beneficiaries.

As you know, to get Saint Lucia CSME ready by 2005 the Cabinet of the Government of Saint Lucia in September 2003, appointed a task force to coordinate activities pertinent to the establishment of the CSME in Saint Lucia. The task force, which includes representatives of the Saint Lucia Manufacturers Association, the Saint Lucia Small Business Association, the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce and relevant government ministries, is chaired by the Prime Minister. Its main functions are to monitor and give direction to the key agencies responsible for implementing the recommended administrative and legal changes required for getting Saint Lucia CSME ready. It is clear therefore, that you are already involved. I hope you play your role fully.

However, despite all efforts, we must accept that the establishment of the Single Market and Economy is not going to be a problem-free enterprise. Its effective operations will require a significant number of new Institutions to ensure an orderly development of the process. Of these, none is likely to be more important than the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). That Institution, when fully operational - in both original and appellate jurisdictions - will not only have completed the process of independence of the Member States of the Community, but would also have launched them onto a new platform of self reliant development, based on a Single Market and Economy. You will no doubt have seen the recent announcement of the appointment of the President and six judges to the Court.

The process of the establishment of this critical Institution has been spearheaded by your own Prime Minister, in his role as Lead Head of Government for Justice and Governance in CARICOM. Also, Saint Lucia, through its Prime Minister will continue to play a crucial role in the establishment of the CSME as it assumes the Chairmanship of the Community during the second half of the Year of the CSME - 2005.

A long-awaited mechanism that we hope will crown our efforts during the Year of the CSME is the adoption of a single Caribbean Community passport by all Member States. This instrument, an important reflection of the Community's sovereignty, will be a defining symbol of our regionalism, offering our people a tangible demonstration of their identity as members of the Caribbean family.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is against this background that I wish you a successful Annual General Meeting as together we go boldly forward into this new era in fashioning a new economic architecture for the prosperity of our peoples.

Allow me also to extend to you, the membership of the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture and to your families, the very best wishes for a "blessed Christmas and a happy and prosperous CSME New Year".