AFTER THE initially heated and emotive reaction to PetroCaribe, Venezuela's oil rebate offer to the Caribbean, the prospective beneficiaries are taking a more considered view. We believe this is the correct position. The approach of the region must have less to do with the search for a 'hidden agenda' by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez. PetroCaribe should be weighed by Caribbean countries as an option in dealing with the crippling cost of energy.
It is a sad commentary on the region's level of political and ideological insecurity that questions about the intention of PetroCaribe were not raised in considering similar offers. The United States' Caribbean Basin Initiative of several years was grabbed by the region, with few questions about Washington's 'agenda'.
There was a similar lack of search for the 'intentions' of the Europeans in their offer of trade preferences (from Yaoundé to Cotonou) over the past 30 years. Consequently, the region's decision on PetroCaribe should not be influenced by the suggestion by Daniel Fisk, the U.S. deputy assistant Secretary of State, that it is part of Venezuela's effort to 'drive a wedge' between Washington and the Caribbean.
The region's decision must be influenced by its own economic priorities. It is U.S. economic priorities that led to attacks on EU preferences for Caribbean commodities, and which will make more difficult the region's ability to meet rising energy bills. The bigger recipients of the PetroCaribe rebates have less of a concern about the condition under which they could benefit. The concern is more with the smaller countries of the region that make up CARICOM.
Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados, appears to have convinced P.J. Patterson, his Jamaican counterpart, that the manner in which CARICOM countries jumped at PetroCaribe could violate aspects of the CARICOM agreements. We await the ruling of the CARICOM Secretariat on this. It is a positive move that it is Patrick Manning, Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister, who will discuss the region's concerns in impending talks with President Chávez. Although Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela have an outstanding dispute about the exploitation of the energy in the waters between them, they also have a recent history of collaboration on energy matters.
We hope that this approach will lead to an arrangement that meets the concerns of all the CARICOM members. The first is to ensure that a regional market such as that enjoyed by Trinidad and Tobago's energy sector is not disturbed unfairly by third country competition.
The second is that PetroCaribe does not violate the rules that were drafted for the mutual benefit of regional economies with the development of the single market.
The third concern is that the struggling energy importing countries of the region can benefit properly from the relief promised by PetroCaribe.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
