Robert Buddan, Contributor
The appointment of Dr. Ken Baugh as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade continues a Jamaican tradition of giving responsibility for foreign affairs to the Prime Minister or his deputy.
Sir Alexander took on this portfolio when Jamaica became independent and had responsibility for its own foreign affairs for the first time. Hugh Shearer, Michael Manley, David Coore, P.J. Patterson and Seymour Mullings also held this portfolio, often acting concurrently as Prime Minister or deputy prime minister.
The reason should be obvious. The Prime Minister is the chief representative of the government of a sovereign nation and either he or his deputy should ideally speak for the country in international organisations and with other heads of states and governments or their representatives. International relations is an area of high politics where the national interest is often at stake and for small, vulnerable countries in an era of global uncertainties, this is even more the case.
Already, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have had to represent Jamaica's national interest at the very critical EU-CARIFORUM meeting and the United Nations General Assembly within a month of taking office. Dr. Baugh made his first address to the United Nations on October 3. Dr. Baugh did not change the course of the PNP's foreign policy.
In fact, he said that what the UN needed was "radical change" in the mindset of the members even while remaining true to its principles and purposes.
Dr. Baugh bemoaned an international order characterised by "underdevelopment," "social degradation," "dehumanising poverty," health pandemics, and "environmental degradation." The international community had not met its commitments to address basic human needs and sustainable development. The Jamaican government remained committed to meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Jamaica would do its part to promote social inclusion, production, employment, investments, and growth. But no country can achieve these goals alone. The development agenda could only be realised through global partnership.
Solutions must be found
Developed countries must provide greater market access, debt relief, private capital, technological transfers, and better global economic governance. While this is needed for all developing countries, solutions must also be found that fit the case. Special solutions are needed for the least developed countries as for middle-income countries like Jamaica. Dr. Baugh reminded the donor countries, who plan development programmes for others, that one size does not fit all.
The Minister repeated what the developing countries have been saying for some time. Liberalisation exposes small and vulnerable countries to external forces over which they have little or no control. Therefore, trade regimes must reflect the differences between levels of development and size of countries. This is the only way that a trade regime can be viable and equitable. Jamaica will continue to insist that trade regimes reflect differentiation that takes size and vulnerability into account.
Therefore, it will continue to pursue the principle, widely accepted by the developing countries, of special and differential treatment. It will also join other developing countries in continuing to press developed countries to remove the subsidies they give to their agricultural products to the disadvantage of others as a precondition for further market access.
European partnership
Dr. Baugh, therefore, joins the previous administration in establishing the conditions that must be met for restarting the Doha Round of trade negotiations and for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) now being forced upon the ACP-CARIFORUM countries. Europe has set deadlines for the Caribbean and its partners to enter into new arrangements while unilaterally abrogating a previous agreement in preference for one that will give it trading advantages to the detriment of our agriculture. The previous foreign minister, Anthony Hylton, was adamant that Europe should not expect to get its own way and that the touchstone for any new agreement was development. The most that Europe can say is that the ACP should accept what it is offering or face worse consequences.
This case of the Economic Partnership Agreement violates the idea of global partnership that Dr. Baugh has restated because the arrangement being proposed is not equitable and viable for the Caribbean. It also violates the principle of multilateralism that Dr. Baugh reminded the UN to abide by because the EU took the unilateral decision to renounce the EU-ACP sugar protocol just days before coming here to talk about partnership in the name of "negotiations".
The Montego Bay meeting, that concluded last weekend, spoke vaguely about progress being made between the Caribbean and the Europeans. But there were no specifics about where further negotiation was needed and what each side was willing to concede. Our farmers and manufacturers do not know and won't know their fate until the agreement has been agreed and signed because the EU's deadline was set for its own purposes and allows no time for the region to consult and get feedback from its own farmers and manufacturers. Dr. Baugh spoke of the need for better global economic governance. Yet, the vagueness of the reports about what was discussed and agreed to means that there is no transparency for stakeholders like farmers and we do not know who is to hold the developed countries accountable should they not remove subsidies from their agricultural products or refuse to comply with any other terms.
In fact, the whole thrust of Dr. Baugh's presentation was about countries taking responsibility for what they say and sharing responsibility according to their ability. In short, it is about trust, and this is what Dr. Baugh meant by the need for radical change in the mindset of the members of the UN, including the Europeans. The question that the Government has to face, squarely, is: "Can it trust the Europeans?" Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that it cannot. The controversies leading up to the Montego Bay meetings come out of violations of trust and the reported "considerable progress" coming from those meetings does not remove the doubt about trust, especially since the Europeans know that they hold the handle and we the blade.
Mr. Golding himself told the conference of his concerns - the frenetic pace of the negotiations; the pre-set deadlines that give no time to consult with or consider how well our farmers and manufacturers can compete; heavy subsidies on European goods; and how to sell the new agreement to the region's people and make sure that it leads to their development.
The EPA negotiations are a good example of the problems with the international order Dr. Baugh talked about. We might be with the 'West' but are they with us and can we trust them?
We can no longer base our foreign policy on blind faith in the 'West'. We cannot operate a naive foreign policy. Jamaica has been remarkably successful in operating in a world order in which we have no enemies. No country regards us as unfriendly or hostile. We should remain open to all countries that are willing to contribute to development. We should not treat the 'West' as unfriendly but we must expect it to be a good partner. Our government must watch the Europeans closely, speak out when they breach trust and hold them accountable to every clause in every agreement we make.
Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, Mona, UWI. E-mail: Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm
