CARICOM moving towards Haiti
** special CSME Summit in Barbados
** CCJ inauguration in November
By Rickey Singh
Guyana Chronicle
July 7, 2004
ST. GEORGE'S -- Sufficient progress has been made on Haiti's return to the councils of the Caribbean Community for an expected "consensus statement" to be announced today at the conclusion of the four-day 25th CARICOM Summit in Grenada.
While CARICOM Chairman, Prime Minister Keith Mitchell declined to provide details to a media briefing last night, he said he was "pleased” to say that "we are moving in the direction of a resolution and a statement to be approved tomorrow (today) by all leaders would speak for itself".
A fact-finding CARICOM ministerial team is expected to travel to Haiti within a month to assess the situation and report back to the Heads of Government, according to informed ministerial sources.
But conditionalities on such fundamental issues as an early return to constitutional government, a bi-partisan Electoral Council for competitive local, national and presidential elections and the disarming of armed bands and other elements for a return to a climate of stability would be elements in the so-called "forward move" for participation in CARICOM by the interim Haitian regime.
Basically, the compromise, according to what one Prime Minister told the `Guyana Chronicle’, was a shift from previous positions by those who held "a more firm line on conditionalities and those in the mood for accommodation but without sacrificing our collective principled position as a community".
The draft statement for approval by Heads of Government, including that of Prime Ministers Kenny Anthony of St. Lucia and Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines who were scheduled to return home last evening, was being prepared by Assistant Secretary General of the Community Secretariat, Colin Granderson who has special responsibility for Haiti.
Earlier in the day the community leaders spent some six hours in closed-door deliberations on the privately-owned island of Calivigny where they made "good progress" on other important issues, including the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and the Caribbean Single Market and Economy), according to Chairman Mitchell.
** CCJ -- In relation to the CCJ, which is to be officially launched in November in Port-of-Spain, its identified headquarters capital, the community leaders endorsed a recommendation from the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission on the first President of the court.
Among names on the RJLSC short list for the CCJ presidency is the retired Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago, Michael de La Bastide. But Mitchell said last night he was not now in a position to confirm the name of the endorsed candidate.
** CSME -- Prime Minister Owen Arthur, who has lead responsibility for this major programme of the 15-member community, is expected to host a special summit of Heads of Government in Barbados, possibly in August.
That meeting will focus exclusively on what needs to be done to intensify arrangements for the realisation of the single market component of the CSME by year end.
** Crime and Security, for which Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning provided a briefing was also discussed and further assessment will be made at today's final session, including a shared project with the United Kingdom.
** The future of the region's sugar market in the European Union in view of an expected 35-40 per cent cut in purchasing price over the next three years, will be a major issue when the summit resumes its plenary session this morning.
Guyana, whose President has special responsibility for regional agriculture, and which stands to lose the most on the proposed slash in purchasing price by the EU, is expected to lead this morning's discussion.