The EPA…a wake up call

Sep 12, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Recently one of our negotiators of the EPA put forward a summary of the benefits of accepting this agreement.

I believe that this negotiating body is comatose, uninformed and lacks vision and any protectionist skill.

This agreement is static and has the medieval traits of pillage and plunder. We obviously were never prepared at the negotiating table and as a result of this we fell easy prey to the Europeans marauding negotiating tactics.

From the very outset, services should have been excluded. It behoves me that all the bright minds are just now weighing in on the debate to reject the EPA. Where were they a year ago? Hello, go back to snooze mode.

We will never compete, not now, not ever. The Europeans have very strong asset-based institutions that can decimate our local establishments. The first casualties will be financial institutions followed by procurement and insurance.

The socio-economic and political after shocks will be devastating. Who will cough up the financial compensation for these displaced industries? Maybe this is not important.

Of course the Europeans can buy anything the CARICOM region has to offer far cheaper from Asia, Latin America or Mexico.

But it is a cheap ploy to use this card. Giving our goods preferential duty treatment means nothing since the increased transport costs to their markets would weed out any benefits.

There is very little in the agreement that promises solid infrastructure or economic development. The Europeans are meticulously skilled in crafting trade policies and agreements.

They have been doing this for over 500 years, all the time to their advantage. There is no fair trade or fairness in trading, only “des illusions de papier.” Business is war and winning is the only option.

We have now a fractured CARICOM, one of the by products of EPA that no doubt will create lasting resentment among members. Some heads of state of CARICOM say good deal, others say bad deal, images of that TV reality show, Deal or No Deal.

Guyana is the richest resource based member of the CARICOM group. Perhaps this is an opportune time for us to revisit our membership, given the EPA fiasco and the current initiative by some states to form political and economic union within CARICOM. Who knows where this is going?

Guyana may be better off developing stronger alliances with our South American neighbours. Hey, they have Bio-fuel, oil, and we have proximity and larger markets to sell our wares. Who needs the EPA…European Profiteering Arrangement?
Max Persaud

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