The Editor, Sir:
Again, the region (that is CARICOM) is entering into an economic partnership that spells doom for us the very moment this said agreement takes effect. The posterity (future) of the region is being handed to the EU by people who fail to consult the very people who elected them. I cannot remember being asked about my future and worse yet, being even adequately informed about this 'reciprocal relationship'. I, along with the rest of John Public, am being taken for a joyride down a very slippery slope called the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
Bastard economies
Under this agreement, the region is supposedly going to "compete favourably with their counterparts in the EU", an economic bloc that "has a US$12 trillion economy, 88 times larger" than any of our bastard economies. The euphemised word here is reciprocation since they are expected to do the same. But whom are they fooling?
What kind of reciprocal relationship can be harnessed between the Caribbean and the EU, when this very region, for example, can't guarantee its very own food security? This agreement is just an extended metaphor of mendicancy, placing us exactly where we have always been - negotiating 'beggars'. We are also going to "open the gate and let in the pirate(s)." I am sure we know what pirates are capable of doing.
Fruit of our labour
What do we possess to "favourably compete"? And whatever that is, can it be produced on a large scale basis so we can bear the fruit of our labour? We answer by singing from the same hymn sheets: banana and/or sugar, or even manufacturing. Sad to say, but these are not marketable in the least bit when, for example, countries such as China and India can produce and offer them at a much cheaper rate. Our economies are lacklustre and in a neutral position, and has been for years. Oh, and another thing, CARICOM is not negotiating as the Caribbean Single Market, but as individual states. Is this a recipe for disaster or one for a bright future? The verdict is yours!
I am, etc.,
ROBIN CLARKE
clarkerobin2002@yahoo.com
