St. Lucia’s Opposition Chief Allen Chastanet has raised critical considerations in regards to the effectiveness of the connection between the Organisation of Jap Caribbean States (OECS) and the broader Caribbean Group (CARICOM), suggesting that OECS leaders take into account whether or not they can be higher off negotiating bilateral offers exterior of the CARICOM framework.
Talking Tuesday throughout the Seventh Assembly of the OECS Meeting in St. Vincent, Chastanet argued that the OECS Meeting has turn out to be “too ceremonial” and urged the sub-regional bloc to take bolder steps in defining its personal path—particularly within the face of exterior pressures, similar to current scrutiny of Citizenship by Funding (CBI) programmes.
“We’re members of CARICOM by which [trade integration] isn’t working, and all of the leaders sitting round this desk all know that our relationship with CARICOM isn’t working,” Chastanet stated.
“So think about if we had the tenacity to drag out of CARICOM and renegotiate bilateral agreements with Jamaica, bilaterals with Trinidad, bilaterals with Guyana and bilaterals with Barbados. Would we be higher off?” he posed to fellow legislators.
Chastanet, who served as St. Lucia’s prime minister from 2016 to 2021, clarified that he was not advocating for a withdrawal from CARICOM. Nonetheless, he emphasised that OECS international locations should critically consider whether or not remaining within the regional grouping serves their greatest pursuits.
“Definitely once I was prime minister, I felt that we have been being ignored. I felt we have been being disrespected,” he stated. “So many instances we went to a gathering at CARICOM and listened to the bigger international locations debate amongst themselves as if we weren’t even there, and reached no conclusion.”
The OECS includes ten members: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla, and the British Virgin Islands. The bloc maintains an financial and foreign money union, with provisions for the free motion of its residents. It’s nested inside CARICOM, which additionally contains bigger economies like Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Barbados.
Chastanet identified that discussions on the Meeting about regional commerce payments, together with harmonized tariff constructions and inside tax regimes, could also be unrealistic given the various levels of financial improvement amongst member states.
“I have a look at the invoice, I ask myself, ‘Is it cheap?’ Are all of us going to take a seat right here and attempt to counsel that we’re going to have a standard coverage on the worth of tariffs? Actually? All of us are [at] completely different levels of improvement,” he stated.
He additionally questioned the readiness of the area to undertake unified insurance policies on delicate financial measures. “And worse but, after we hear, in my thoughts, we have been speaking about frequent inside tariffs, frequent VAT price? Are we prepared for that?”
Chastanet concluded by highlighting the significance of balancing deeper integration with nationwide sovereignty. “The Revised Treaty of Basseterre speaks about deeper integration,” he stated, “but it surely additionally maintains our personal independence, and that recognises that we’re [at] completely different levels of improvement.”
