Forum Discussing Radical Ways Of Changing Caribbean Fortunes

By Peter Richards

CMC Caribbean Correspondent

 

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad CMC – A three-day forum on the future of the Caribbean began here, on Tuesday, amidst concerns that a new paradigm is needed to take the region forward in a changing global environment.

Deputy Executive Director of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Dr. Antonio Prado, said, the Caribbean, like Latin America “is facing a future fraught with challenges and uncertainty” and that it is clear that the models and strategies that have delivered improved living standards in the past will be unable to continue doing so in the future.

“Across the region leaders of government, business and other institutions have been tweaking these models to adjust to a higher income and competitive world whose economic and geopolitical epicenter is shifting…”.

Prado said the region has also had to deal with the new architecture that may emerge for development financing “alongside the new commitments to addressing climate change”.

He said in light of these changes the small adjustments ‘not to rock the boat will not be enough to address a challenging future”.

The forum here is being attended by academics, political leaders, non-government organisations as well as service leaders into what the organisers said the sole purpose of which is “to shock the region into new ways of thinking and doing business”.

The forum, which is being sponsored by a host of regional and international organisations, including the University of the West Indies (UWI), the Trinidad and Tobago government, is divided into three main themes – Stimulating Radical ideas; Re-Thinking the Caribbean future and Taking Action for Sustainable Outcome”.

Pro-Vice Chancellor and Principal of the St. Augustine Campus of the UWI, Professor Clement Sankat, told the opening ceremony that the aim of the forum is “to create a fresh dispensation of ideas, taught and actions that would help our region re-position itself as an important player on the international stage and secure sustained development in an ever evolving very competitive global landscape”.

He said that the forum is breaking new ground in Caribbean thinking “an entering an exciting new chapter of Caribbean development in the second decade of the 21^st century.

“We are recharging our course for economic growth and social empowerment with a bold spirit of radical thinking and resolve,” he said, adding he was pleased that the new initiatives were being held at the UWI, the region’s premier learning institution.

“It brings to memory the vision of our founding fathers captured in the Irvine Commission Report of 1944,” he said, noting that the report had set the stage for the emergence of the UWI.

He said UWI was now repositioning itself at the center of taught and being a catalyst and driver for the development trajectory of the region.

Sankat said that the forum is “about working together to stimulate radical ideas, re-think our future and taking bold actions with the aim of achieving sustainable development.

“It is about unlocking our potential as one Caribbean people. It is about ensuring that people and human imagination are at the center with a clear focus on young people. Our youths are the ones who will inherit the space we call the Caribbean region and therefore we need to hear the freshness of their thoughts as they too must help to shape their destiny,” Sankat said.

The UWI academic said that this new thought is necessary in the new global environment, insisting “we need to create a new vision for our region, our countries, our institutions and ourselves”.

He said, he wanted to share some of his own thoughts on a new vision for the Caribbean, telling delegates “what if we remove every single barrier to trade for manufactured and agricultural goods in the Caribbean that have been certified by the state of the origin…what if we ensured the free movement of people within the Caribbean region, what if we created a union of Caribbean states…

“What if we brought together the resources of the Caribbean, including capital, technology, labour, energy, manufacturing, production and distribution knowledge, our land and marine assets to build a robust production capability within the region,” he said, noting that the late Professor Norman Girvan had been passionate about such a strategy for development dating back to the 1960s “but has not materalised up to today”.

Professor Sankat wondered aloud, if Trinidad and Tobago would utilize its geographical location “and became a mass transshipment for goods going to South America.

“Would this not open up the Latin American market of over 350 million people to Caribbean and global exporters,” he said, adding there was also the possibility of building a bridge linking Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.

He also outlined plans for funding the regional university as well as research and development “as a percentage of GDP (gross domestic product), adding “could we imagine how this may propel problem solving, creativity, innovation, knowledge  …for our societies many of whom are small island developing states and can hardly build such a research or intellectual capacity”.

Sankat said it was imperative for the region to start thinking of “fresh ideas, concept and models” pursuing new perspectives and paradigms “while discarding inappropriate older footage.

‘This is the spirit and philosophy behind this forum…this is not to say we must forget our past, our rich history, our missteps and we have made many, but the significant strides we have also made since post independence.

“But the time has come for us to think outside the box and of course be creative, innovative and industrious if our region is to achieve sustainable development,” he added.

In his address, Prado said, the time has come for the revitalization of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) integration as a platform for intense secure inks with Latin American trade and technical cooperation.

“This could help the Caribbean scale up resources’ for its development,” he said, while acknowledging that the “transformation is herculean” but urged the delegates to come up with ideas that could advance the region’s development.