Four crucial negotiations CARICOM has entered what is by far the most crucial phase of its existence. It has simultaneously on four negotiations which, depending on how they are concluded, will make or break the quest for West Indian unity and will leave its six million people either well positioned in the world's pack or degradingly bringing up the rear. The first negotiation is an internal one, the negotiation between ourselves to create a single space in the world which West Indians own and utilise for our benefit before all others. After too much vacillation this must now be done quickly and decisively before others divide and rule us all over again and pick the fruits which we can best grow together. It is not just bringing into effect a CARICOM Single Market and Economy. It is not simply agreeing and breathing life into the nine Protocols which will govern our relations with each other. Fundamentally this negotiation between ourselves involves the creation of new dimensions of togetherness. Very definitely it means, for instance, creating a Caribbean Court of Appeal since the real essence not only of a single market but indeed of a nation must be distilled in common laws coherently applied. And can you imagine the tremendous additional influence we would have if our foreign policy voice was truly one in the councils of the world six million people with, for instance, 14 times the voting power of any great nation you care to mention. The second negotiation is with Europe. Up to now this has been undertaken within the African Caribbean and Pacific group (the ACP) in the process of trying to find a suitable successor to the old Lome Convention. The initial result has been the Cotonou Agreement. This is a good agreement. The only trouble is that the Europeans, almost at once, have started unilaterally to revisit, reinterpret, sideline and undermine the agreement. Our immediate aim, therefore, must be to counter this bargaining in bad faith and ensure that the Europeans adhere strictly to the letter and spirit of Cotonou. After that, negotiations with the European Union on Economic Partnership Agreements will begin in September, 2002. The European intention is to divide up the ACP and negotiate separate regional free trade agreements. We are going to have to tread very carefully and prepare very thoroughly for this stage of the negotiations if we are to thwart the obvious European intention to get rid of what they call historical baggage but what we know is rightfully owed us. The third negotiation is to do with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the strenuous efforts being made by the developed countries, post the Seattle fiasco, to start a new round of trade negotiations to succeed the Uruguay Round. The first thing to be said is that we should absolutely refuse to be bullied into starting a new round of trade negotiations unless and until the iniquities and imbalances of the Uruguay Round are reviewed and repaired. The immediate requirement is to negotiate hard to make the WTO rules and procedures more suited to the needs and interest of developing countries. In the Uruguay Round negotiations we were outrageously conned. It must not happen again. The fourth negotiation is the one which will decide under what terms we will enter a Free Trade Area of the Americas. This negotiation, driven by the United States, is supposed to be completed in three and a half years time. The small, unsubsidised industries of CARICOM will be wiped out if suddenly exposed to competition within the giant enterprises to the north and south of us. In product after product Brazil, to name one 'developing' monster, would simply sweep us off the face of the earth. However, it is clearly stated in the policy guidelines for this negotiation that there will be "special and differential" treatment for small and vulnerable countries. Our negotiators will simply have to cling to this lifeline, repeating "special and differential treatment" like a mantra, if CARICOM minnows, even swimming together as a school, are to benefit at all from living in that barracuda-infested pond. Will we continue in the mainstream or will we drift into a backwater? These four negotiations now proceeding will make or break us as a nation, as a people, as human beings with pride in a culture, a way of life, a world role of our own. Let us take an interest in what is going on. Ian McDonald is a regular contributor who lives and works in Georgetown, Guyana.
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