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We are sleepwalking once again into another negotiation

Jan 20, 2009 News

– Jagdeo

Head of State, President Bharrat Jagdeo, yesterday said that the region is “sleep walking once again into another (trade) negotiation”, and questioned the rush into the negotiations with Canada in light of the deficiencies in the Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM).
He added also that the upcoming meeting of a few Caricom Heads of State was not substantive enough to adequately deal with the issue of the negotiating body, pointing out that the meeting may merely submit recommendations.
“Frankly speaking, this does not require a meeting of just a few heads…It has to be dealt with at one of the two substantives that we have,” said Jagdeo.
He noted that there has been a crisis of governance, particularly as it relates to the RNM, for the past three years.
According to Jagdeo, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who has responsibility for the issue at hand, has already indicated “that we can’t move forward until we determine the place of the RNM in the regional governance structure.”
He said, too, that there seems not to be an inclination or willingness at some levels to do anything to resolve the issue.
“Had we dealt with that matter, we would have been avoided the embarrassment of the negotiations with the RNM.”
As it relates to the upcoming trade talks with Canada, he noted that it seemed that the entire world was in turmoil “and we, without examining whether a free trade agreement with Canada, whether it is in our interest to start now or delay it into the future….we are sleep walking once again into negotiations, because we feel some obligation or because there is some pressure.”
He said that even in Canada they have had uncertainties about the government.
Jagdeo insisted that the region needed to operate more from careful assessments of its own interests.
Secretary-General of the CARICOM Community (CARICOM), Dr Edwin Carrington, recently confirmed that the position held by President Bharrat Jagdeo will be high on the agenda of the upcoming CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting on January 31.
Visiting Secretary-General of the Association of Caribbean States, Lius Fernando Andrade Falla, said that as it relates to the upcoming Summit of the Americas, international relations will be addressed with a renewed vigour.
“We have to voice coherently, with a very strong voice, our concerns.”
Jagdeo recently voiced his position that the RNM, which recently concluded the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union, cannot represent Guyana’s position on the upcoming trade talks with Canada.
Jagdeo made the disclosure during a recent press briefing hosted at the Office of the President. He noted that the decision on how Guyana’s position will be represented will have to be taken at the level of CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Heads. Jagdeo had disagreed with aspects of the EPA.
He had even questioned the ability of the RNM to represent any CARICOM interest in trade talks.
At the time, he was of the opinion that other leaders had raised similar concerns, but none of them did so publicly.
The RNM operates “as though it’s an independent entity vested with different powers,” and should be brought under the authority of the CARICOM Secretariat.
Alliance For Change leader Raphael Trotman disagreed with the President’s approach to the issue, given that for a Head of State to make such a public pronouncement did not augur well for the credibility of the RNM on the international scene.
“The RNM is an integral cog in the CARICOM wheel of negotiations.”
He said that the better approach should have been to call for a revamping of the body, which he did support, given the recent experience with the EPA negotiations.
The Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) was created by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Governments to develop, coordinate and execute an overall negotiating strategy for various external trade negotiations in which the Region is involved.
The CRNM is responsible for developing and maintaining a cohesive and effective framework for the coordination and management of the Caribbean Region’s negotiating resources and expertise.

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