From my archive of press clippings:
Jamaica Observer
Has the Caribbean benefited from EPA with Europe after a year?
Ronald Sanders
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The European Commission (EC) will be holding a symposium on April 22 and 23 on the year-old Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and 15 Caribbean countries.
Read the whole article here.
Snippet(s):
"There is, as yet, no indication that Caribbean governments or the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat will be holding a similar exercise.
It has to be assumed that each of the governments that signed the EPA has long established units both to implement its terms and to monitor its effects on individual economies."
"In defence of several Caribbean heads of government, it should be noted that they were reluctant to sign and many did so only after their crucial exports of bananas, sugar and some manufactured goods (from Trinidad and Tobago, for instance) were threatened by the EC with a higher tariff in the EU market.
But if the EPA is to be properly reviewed - and it should be subject to such a review on an annual basis - it is essential to monitor its implementation and to gather information that will inform an examination."
"(E)Ven though Caribbean countries and the EU are supposed to be 'partners' under the EPA, the EC has denounced the Sugar Protocol causing Caribbean countries to lose their preferential price for sugar; the EC has agreed a new trade regime for bananas with exports from non-African, Caribbean and Pacific countries that will decimate what is left of the banana industry in the Caribbean; and come June 20, the EC will renege on an undertaking to the Caribbean rum industry to help finance restructuring and marketing, while at the same time reducing tariffs on competing rum from several Latin American countries."
"Unfortunately, there has not been much evidence of consultation. The experience of sugar, rum and bananas indicates that the EC now takes the Caribbean for granted. After all, they already have a signed full EPA with the region, so why would they overly concern themselves about the Caribbean?"
&
"Undoubtedly, the global financial crisis - as well as the failures of regional financial institutions - has battered Caribbean governments. All Caricom countries have been preoccupied with saving their economies from shocks, including worsening terms of trade especially with the EU - even though Guyana had 3.3 per cent growth in 2009."
Responses and previous commentaries: www.sirronaldsanders.com
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
Showing posts with label Sir Ronald Sanders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sir Ronald Sanders. Show all posts
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
JO - Support Obama: It's in our interest
From my archive of press clippings:
Jamaica Observer
Support Obama: It's in our interest
Ronald Sanders
Sunday, April 11, 2010
US President Barack Obama is showing that he is worthy of the Nobel Prize for Peace that he received late last year amid criticism that he had done nothing to deserve it.
Read the whole column here.
_____
Responses and previous commentaries at: www.sirronaldsanders.com
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
Jamaica Observer
Support Obama: It's in our interest
Ronald Sanders
Sunday, April 11, 2010
US President Barack Obama is showing that he is worthy of the Nobel Prize for Peace that he received late last year amid criticism that he had done nothing to deserve it.
Read the whole column here.
_____
Responses and previous commentaries at: www.sirronaldsanders.com
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
Friday, January 8, 2010
JO - Time to care again for Caricom
From my archive of press clippings:
Jamaica Observer
Time to care again for Caricom
Sir Ronald Sanders
Sunday, April 26, 2009
IT seems that every time the countries of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) make one step forward in the quest for deeper integration, they take two steps backward, and the goal becomes even more elusive.
Sir Ronald Sanders
There have been several recent manifestations of this, one of them being the approach to ALBA - the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas - created by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Read the whole article here.
Snippet(s):
"One member government of Caricom is formally a member of ALBA and two others have indicated that they might join the organisation.
The government that has joined ALBA is Dominica and the governments that have announced their intention to do so are St Vincent & the Grenadines and Antigua & Barbuda."
"The known members of ALBA are: Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Dominica.
When ALBA was conceived, it was not a treaty organisation and its principles resided in economic co-operation arrangements which appeared to benefit countries that joined it with Venezuela being the principal donor."
&
"Since then, however, a military dimension has crept into the organisation. Both Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega have argued that the member countries of ALBA "should work to form a joint defence strategy and start joining our armed forces, air forces, armies, navies, National Guards, and intelligence forces, because the enemy is the same, the empire (meaning the United States)"."
_____
Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
Jamaica Observer
Time to care again for Caricom
Sir Ronald Sanders
Sunday, April 26, 2009
IT seems that every time the countries of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) make one step forward in the quest for deeper integration, they take two steps backward, and the goal becomes even more elusive.
Sir Ronald Sanders
There have been several recent manifestations of this, one of them being the approach to ALBA - the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas - created by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Read the whole article here.
Snippet(s):
"One member government of Caricom is formally a member of ALBA and two others have indicated that they might join the organisation.
The government that has joined ALBA is Dominica and the governments that have announced their intention to do so are St Vincent & the Grenadines and Antigua & Barbuda."
"The known members of ALBA are: Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Dominica.
When ALBA was conceived, it was not a treaty organisation and its principles resided in economic co-operation arrangements which appeared to benefit countries that joined it with Venezuela being the principal donor."
&
"Since then, however, a military dimension has crept into the organisation. Both Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega have argued that the member countries of ALBA "should work to form a joint defence strategy and start joining our armed forces, air forces, armies, navies, National Guards, and intelligence forces, because the enemy is the same, the empire (meaning the United States)"."
_____
Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
JO - Caribbean cannot base tourism on US embargo against Cuba
From my archive of press clippings:
Jamaica Observer
Caribbean cannot base tourism on US embargo against Cuba
SIR Ronald Sanders
Sunday, April 19, 2009
US President Barack Obama has fulfilled a promise made to Cuban-Americans during last year's presidential campaign to ease travel restrictions allowing them to visit Cuba as they wish, and to send money back home to their dependents.
SIR Ronald Sanders
This decision has caused more than a ripple of concern among tourism authorities in some Caribbean countries, and contradictory statements have been issued about the likely effect on their tourism industries.
Read the whole article here.
Snippet(s):
"The reality is that Caribbean countries have little to fear from President Obama's policy. Easing travel for Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba will have little or no effect on other Caribbean destinations. Very few Cuban-Americans travel on holiday to Caribbean countries.
The real impact on Caribbean tourism will come when the US and Cuba normalise relations and the 49-year-old US embargo on Cuba comes to an end."
&
"Sooner or later the embargo will be lifted and Cuba will be a strong and direct competitor with other Caribbean countries for US tourists and US investment in the tourist industry. Neighbouring Caribbean countries must therefore prepare themselves for this competition and be ready to meet it."
_____
Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
Jamaica Observer
Caribbean cannot base tourism on US embargo against Cuba
SIR Ronald Sanders
Sunday, April 19, 2009
US President Barack Obama has fulfilled a promise made to Cuban-Americans during last year's presidential campaign to ease travel restrictions allowing them to visit Cuba as they wish, and to send money back home to their dependents.
SIR Ronald Sanders
This decision has caused more than a ripple of concern among tourism authorities in some Caribbean countries, and contradictory statements have been issued about the likely effect on their tourism industries.
Read the whole article here.
Snippet(s):
"The reality is that Caribbean countries have little to fear from President Obama's policy. Easing travel for Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba will have little or no effect on other Caribbean destinations. Very few Cuban-Americans travel on holiday to Caribbean countries.
The real impact on Caribbean tourism will come when the US and Cuba normalise relations and the 49-year-old US embargo on Cuba comes to an end."
&
"Sooner or later the embargo will be lifted and Cuba will be a strong and direct competitor with other Caribbean countries for US tourists and US investment in the tourist industry. Neighbouring Caribbean countries must therefore prepare themselves for this competition and be ready to meet it."
_____
Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
Friday, September 4, 2009
JO - Handling of Honduras crisis flawed from the start
From my archive of press clippings:
Jamaica Observer
Handling of Honduras crisis flawed from the start
SIR RONALD SANDERS
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Call it Latin American "hot blood" or "Commonwealth cool", but there is definitely a marked difference between how the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Commonwealth handle conflicts in their member states.
SIR RONALD SANDERS
Both the 53-nation Commonwealth and the 34-nation OAS have had their share of coup d'états, fraudulent elections and abuse of civil and human rights. And both organisations have drawn up Declarations of Principle for their member states - infractions of which lead to penalties of some kind.
Read the whole article here.
Snippet(s):
"(W)hereas in the OAS suspension of a state from membership of the organisation was the first step taken in relation to Honduras where it was claimed a coup d'état had occurred, in the Commonwealth suspension of a member state is an action of last resort, taken only after many initiatives have been exhausted.
Unlike the OAS, the Commonwealth has standing machinery designed to deal with breaches of the fundamental democratic principles to which it adheres."
&
"The OAS secretary general was given 72 hours to find a solution to the Honduran situation. He might just as well have been asked to push a huge boulder up a steep mountain. There was no way it could have been achieved given the high emotion that existed on all sides.
In giving him such a mandate, the OAS General Assembly was clearly pressed into their decision by a group of countries led by Venezuela, Argentina, Nicaragua and Bolivia (the key members of ALBA) who wanted their man, Manuel Zelaya, immediately back in the presidency, whether or not he had been removed in accordance with the Honduran Constitution and law. As an important aside, let me say in this connection that however legally correct the impeachment of Zelaya may have been, the interim regime wrong-footed itself by having the military remove him from the country."
Jamaica Observer
Handling of Honduras crisis flawed from the start
SIR RONALD SANDERS
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Call it Latin American "hot blood" or "Commonwealth cool", but there is definitely a marked difference between how the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Commonwealth handle conflicts in their member states.
SIR RONALD SANDERS
Both the 53-nation Commonwealth and the 34-nation OAS have had their share of coup d'états, fraudulent elections and abuse of civil and human rights. And both organisations have drawn up Declarations of Principle for their member states - infractions of which lead to penalties of some kind.
Read the whole article here.
Snippet(s):
"(W)hereas in the OAS suspension of a state from membership of the organisation was the first step taken in relation to Honduras where it was claimed a coup d'état had occurred, in the Commonwealth suspension of a member state is an action of last resort, taken only after many initiatives have been exhausted.
Unlike the OAS, the Commonwealth has standing machinery designed to deal with breaches of the fundamental democratic principles to which it adheres."
&
"The OAS secretary general was given 72 hours to find a solution to the Honduran situation. He might just as well have been asked to push a huge boulder up a steep mountain. There was no way it could have been achieved given the high emotion that existed on all sides.
In giving him such a mandate, the OAS General Assembly was clearly pressed into their decision by a group of countries led by Venezuela, Argentina, Nicaragua and Bolivia (the key members of ALBA) who wanted their man, Manuel Zelaya, immediately back in the presidency, whether or not he had been removed in accordance with the Honduran Constitution and law. As an important aside, let me say in this connection that however legally correct the impeachment of Zelaya may have been, the interim regime wrong-footed itself by having the military remove him from the country."
_____
Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
JO - Dominica: A Whale of A Pride
From my archive of press clippings:
Jamaica Observer
Dominica: A Whale of A Pride
Sir Ronald Sanders
Sunday, March 29, 2009
IT'S not often that the leader of a small country is bold enough to resist the desires of larger or richer countries. But Dominica's prime minister, Roosevelt Skerritt, did just that on March 23rd.
Sir Ronald Sanders
Speaking in Dominica's capital, Roseau, at the opening of an Environmental Conference entitled "International Ocean Life Symposium", the prime minister declared that his government would no longer be supporting the whale-killing position of the Japanese government in the International Whaling Commission (IWC). He said that his government would be acting in his country's "national interest".
Read the whole article here.
Snippet(s):
"For several years now, it has been alleged that several Caribbean countries - the members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Suriname - have been supporting Japan at the IWC because the Japanese Whaling Association (JWA) provided them with fish refrigeration facilities. It has also been claimed in British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) programmes that the JWA paid the IWC membership fees for some of these countries as well as the cost of their delegations' attendance.
These claims were upheld in Dominica by environmentalists who have followed closely the country's participation in IWC meetings. Among these persons is a former environment minister of a Dominica government, Atherton Martin, who resigned in 2000 in protest over the issue."
_____
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com
Jamaica Observer
Dominica: A Whale of A Pride
Sir Ronald Sanders
Sunday, March 29, 2009
IT'S not often that the leader of a small country is bold enough to resist the desires of larger or richer countries. But Dominica's prime minister, Roosevelt Skerritt, did just that on March 23rd.
Sir Ronald Sanders
Speaking in Dominica's capital, Roseau, at the opening of an Environmental Conference entitled "International Ocean Life Symposium", the prime minister declared that his government would no longer be supporting the whale-killing position of the Japanese government in the International Whaling Commission (IWC). He said that his government would be acting in his country's "national interest".
Read the whole article here.
Snippet(s):
"For several years now, it has been alleged that several Caribbean countries - the members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Suriname - have been supporting Japan at the IWC because the Japanese Whaling Association (JWA) provided them with fish refrigeration facilities. It has also been claimed in British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) programmes that the JWA paid the IWC membership fees for some of these countries as well as the cost of their delegations' attendance.
These claims were upheld in Dominica by environmentalists who have followed closely the country's participation in IWC meetings. Among these persons is a former environment minister of a Dominica government, Atherton Martin, who resigned in 2000 in protest over the issue."
_____
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com
Friday, May 8, 2009
JO - The Commonwealth at 60: Who should be its next head?
Jamaica Observer
The Commonwealth at 60: Who should be its next head?
SIR RONALD SANDERS
Sunday, May 03, 2009
THE modern Commonwealth - a voluntary group of 53 nations - celebrated 60 years of existence on April 28. For all but four years, Queen Elizabeth II has been the head of the Commonwealth. Now, as the Commonwealth looks to the future, it also has to anticipate the need for a new head.
SIR RONALD SANDERS
The Queen turned 83 years old just seven days before the modern Commonwealth's 60th anniversary. Her father, George VI, was the British king in 1949 when what was then an eight-nation grouping looked set to break up over the desire by India to become a republic. Up to that point Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan and Ceylon (later Sri Lanka) had a common head of state - the British Crown. India, which had become independent in 1947, decided that it wished to become a republic with its own head of state. In what was a remarkable demonstration not only of good sense, but also a desire to keep the Commonwealth together, the Indian government affirmed India's desire "to continue full membership of the Commonwealth and accepted the King as the symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the head of the Commonwealth".
_____
Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
The Commonwealth at 60: Who should be its next head?
SIR RONALD SANDERS
Sunday, May 03, 2009
THE modern Commonwealth - a voluntary group of 53 nations - celebrated 60 years of existence on April 28. For all but four years, Queen Elizabeth II has been the head of the Commonwealth. Now, as the Commonwealth looks to the future, it also has to anticipate the need for a new head.
SIR RONALD SANDERS
The Queen turned 83 years old just seven days before the modern Commonwealth's 60th anniversary. Her father, George VI, was the British king in 1949 when what was then an eight-nation grouping looked set to break up over the desire by India to become a republic. Up to that point Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan and Ceylon (later Sri Lanka) had a common head of state - the British Crown. India, which had become independent in 1947, decided that it wished to become a republic with its own head of state. In what was a remarkable demonstration not only of good sense, but also a desire to keep the Commonwealth together, the Indian government affirmed India's desire "to continue full membership of the Commonwealth and accepted the King as the symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the head of the Commonwealth".
Read the whole article here.
_____
Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com
Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.
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