TRADE-CARIBBEAN: ACP States at a Crucial Juncture

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Wesley Gibbings

PORT OF SPAIN, Nov 22 1999 (IPS) - Leaders and senior officials of the 71-member African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping meet this week on Caribbean soil for the first time with crucial negotiations involving the European Union uppermost, yet not exclusively, on their minds.

The summit, to be held in the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo, is being viewed as a critical juncture in the negotiation of a successor agreement to the Lome IV Convention and an important precursor to World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks on new global trading arrangements.

The existing Lome Agreement expires at the end of February next year and important WTO negotiations continue in the United States next week.

An ACP Sub-Committee on Future Relations with the EU had recommended a multi-faceted approach to the Lome negotiations including a proposal to activate “the political identity of the ACP Group to enable it to act and speak with a single voice in all international fora.”

Such a commitment has led, latterly, to a joint negotiating position on a new Lome accord though some economic anomalies between partner states have often emerged as sticking points in the achievement of consensus.

Some member states, for example, agitated against the proposed “differentiation and regionalisation” of the Group which, they believed, had the potential to generate fragmentation and increase the vulnerability of the member states.

There was also considerable debate on the proposed extension of the accord to include all Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Intra-ACP discussions have, however, led to agreement on a number of important areas.

Information reaching IPS is that the Santo Domingo Summit will endorse an approach which recognises the need for an agreed preparatory period to enable member states to comply with WTO-compatible arrangements.

At a meeting of ACP Trade Ministers in Brussels last month, there was agreement, as well, that the EU should be urged to “initiate the necessary steps within the WTO to extend the current waiver beyond February 2000 in order to avoid any disruption in ACP-EU trade relations and allow enough time for the negotiations of alternative trade arrangements to be concluded.”

It was widely recognised at the meeting that “appropriate” mechanisms and resources should also be provided to strengthen the capacities of ACP countries for their smooth and gradual integration in the multilateral trading system.

A Green Paper prepared by the EU on future relations with the ACP however suggests that such countries ought to move faster to integrate more fully into the new system of global trade by diversifying their production base and expanding their export outlets.

The ACP currently account for about 2 percent of global trade and less than 1 percent of international investment flows.

The Green Paper also notes that “the economic marginalisation of some ACP countries has gone hand in hand with social disintegration, mounting violence and a proliferation of armed conflicts which often trigger humanitarian disasters, undermining development policies and deflecting the international community’s aid efforts towards emergency action and crisis management.”

Recognition of these factors has characterised intra-ACP discussions and an important feature of the Santo Domingo talks will be the role of civil society in improving the social and economic environment.

In fact, one issue which may find its way into the wording of the Santo Domingo Declaration is likely to be a call on member states to recognise that peace and stability are preconditions for improving the livelihood of the people of the ACP in a democratic and free environment.

Civil conflict in a number of member states, particularly on the African continent, has recently generated considerable international attention and concern. The economies of countries such as Rwanda and Somalia, for example, have been shattered by ongoing military conflict.

The ACP Subcommittee had acknowledged “peace and security” as “an important precondition for development.”

It called on ACP states to “ensure national unity and participation of all sections of their populations in nation-building and development” and to “respect human rights and ensure fair representation in public life through fair elections.”

There were also calls for the promotion of “good governance and equity in the distribution of national resources” and the establishment of “credible mechanisms within their frontiers to take preventive and conciliatory action upfront in the face of potential conflicts.’

This week’s summit – Nov 24-26 – also comes at a time of serious concern in the Caribbean over the impact of natural disasters on the economies of the region.

The impact of Hurricane Lenny, which lashed the Caribbean late last week, is still being measured by authorities in the region.

Between moderate to severe damage was sustained by the island’s of St Maarten, Antigua, Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada during the late-season storm which claimed 12 lives.

The Dominican Republic barely escaped the killer hurricane but now ACP leaders preparing to assembly there later this week are considering the potentially devastating impact of a new global environment they say can work, with brutality, against them if they do not get their collective act together.