Summit of Commitments

Apr 14, 2009 Editorial

This weekend, thirty-four “democratically elected” leaders from this hemisphere will jet into T&T for the fifth “Summit of the Americas”. These heads of state and government are supposed “to discuss common concerns, seek solutions and develop a shared vision for their future development of the region, be it economic, social or political in nature.”

The theme for the upcoming summit is, “Securing Our Citizens’ Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability.”
One can gauge how fast and furious the global financial meltdown has exploded from the ambitious goal articulated only a couple of years ago – “promoting human prosperity” – and the certainly more chastened hope right now of, at best, ameliorating the encroaching world depression. We are certain there will be some commitments to this new goal.

The first summit was held in 1994 but one would be hard put to come up with a concrete accomplishment from these high-profile “power” gatherings – even though they generated copious commitments.
They are probably best remembered for the protests against globalisation and the Free Trade of the Americas during the ones in Quebec (2001) and Argentina (2004). From all indications, it is highly unlikely that this summit will be much different from all the other “talk shops” – including the presence of thousand of protestors or one stripe or other.

A “Summit of the People” has been scheduled by civil society groups in T&T to precede the “grand” summit.
Then, of course, there was the drama between Presidents Chavez and Bush at the Argentinean Summit which appears about to be replayed between the former and the new President on the block – Obama. Chavez has already committed that he is he is getting his “artillery” ready and towards this end has convened the heads of his ALBA grouping – Nicaragua, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay and a representative from Cuba – to hone a common position.

Chavez is committed to place the issue of the US-Cuba relations on top of the agenda and in this he backed by twelve of the fourteen Caricom attendees as well as most of the Latin American governments.
Unfortunately, the US has already signalled very strongly that it will not be making any commitments in significantly altering its relationship with Cuba. In fact, President Obama has preceded his visit to T&T by a two-day stopover in Mexico he will most likely seek to craft a common position with one of the most conservative leaders in the hemisphere.
This impasse over Cuba will certainly colour even the glad-handing that typifies these gatherings and perversely will strengthen the hand of Chavez who is determined to interject his presence into the international arena.

Apart from T&T – and this is expected since they have invested millions into the venture – the other Caricom leaders, including President Jagdeo, have been remarkably reticent on their hopes for the Summit. It would be a remarkable sign of maturity if the have done so because of their willingness to go beyond the glitz, glamour and hype and soberly reflect on the fact that if G20 – representing 85 per cent of world GDP could not get beyond mostly emaciated, self-serving “commitments”, this summit is not likely to lead to more concrete action.

The G20 Statement had twenty-nine paragraphs that deployed the word “commitment” nineteen times. One wonders if it was of case of having “commiteth” too much since the one that would have given the most benefit to the developing world – completion of the DOHA Round – was given the shortest shrift.

We are told that a ninety-seven paragraph draft “Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain” has been negotiated for adoption at the end of this Summit. The mind boggles at contemplating how many new commitments will be concocted in a document explicitly dedicated to “commitment”.
One wonders if it betrays a fundamental unwillingness towards “commitment” by the “big guns” that attend these bashes. The new commitments, of course, will be added to the hundreds of commitments that were already signed-off on at the prior Summits.

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Summit of Commitments

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