CARICOM And The US Make Up Over Haiti
In the first major official meeting between CARICOM and the US since 2001,
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice met regional foreign ministers in the
Bahamas last month. The parties agreed to forgive and forget their spat over
the US role in the ouster of Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide in February
2004. Secretary Rice welcomed CARICOM’s decision to re-engage Haiti, and to
provide assistance for its institutional development. Both parties agreed on
the importance of the international community remaining engaged in Haiti over
the long term, in order to promote stability and socio-economic progress. The Ministers and the Secretary of State reviewed initiatives to promote regional
economic reform and integration, and underscored the importance of free trade
as an engine of economic growth and development. They noted the significant
progress made in restructuring the economies of the region through the creation
of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy – a vital component of which
is a regional Development Fund. They proposed a re-configured US-CARICOM Trade
and Investment Council, as well as an early meeting of CARICOM Trade Ministers
and the United States Trade Representative. In February, six Caricom member states formally signed a declaration of their
governments' compliance with the provisions of the Treaty establishing the Caricom
Single Market and Economy (CSM). The countries, namely Barbados, Belize, Guyana,
Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, became the first six Caricom countries
to have signed on to the single market. The six Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) agreed to a start date
for compliance of June 30. The OECS states include Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica,
Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Of the three remaining Member States, The Bahamas and Haiti have not signified
their intention to participate in the CSME process and Montserrat - a British
Dependency - is awaiting the necessary instrument of entrustment from the United
Kingdom's government. Very importantly for Barbados, Dr Rice agreed that the United States will
support the CARICOM preparations for the security of Cricket World Cup 2007,
with particular focus on border security. "One would like to see this as the beginning of the new relationship between
the US and Caricom ...," said Dominica's foreign minister Charles Savarin. .
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