The seven-nation Group of Jap Caribbean States (OECS), which marked its forty third anniversary on June 18, 2024, is arguably probably the most profitable integration initiatives on the earth. It’s second solely to the 27-nation European Union (EU).
The OECS represents a deeper integration motion than the Caribbean Neighborhood and Frequent Market (CARICOM), of which its member states are an element, together with eight different Caribbean international locations. Whereas the OECS was shaped in 1981, CARICOM was based in its unique kind because the Caribbean Free Commerce Affiliation (CARIFTA) in 1968. Regardless of CARICOM’s 14-year head begin, the OECS has confirmed to be a extra profitable and helpful integration challenge.
On October 19, 1978, on the twenty third Assembly of the West Indies (Related States) Council of Ministers (WISA) – a unfastened consultative group of seven Leeward and Windward Islands – Lester Hen, then Deputy Premier of Antigua and Barbuda, outlined a imaginative and prescient of a corporation that turned the OECS. I labored carefully with him on elaborating that imaginative and prescient.
At the moment, of the 7 international locations, solely Grenada had attained independence from Britain in 1974. Dominica was on the cusp of independence, which it attained in November 1978. St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have been additionally considering independence, finally reaching it in February and October 1979, respectively. In the meantime, for Antigua and Barbuda and St. Kitts-Nevis, independence was not but imminent, though leaders in each international locations aspired to be free from the dictates of the British authorities in London. The seventh nation, Montserrat, additionally hankered for better native energy over its affairs.
Nonetheless, it was clear to any knowledgeable analyst that whereas independence from a colonial energy was crucial, the burden for international locations with micro economies and small populations was not sustainable. Separate independence for these small and under-resourced international locations, together with the dismantling of joint governance mechanisms, might go away them worse off than they have been.
Grenada served as a living proof. Though it had been nominally unbiased for 4 years by 1978, it continued to take part in a number of establishments established by Britain for the seven international locations together with a typical forex and a forex authority. Grenada did so as a result of it rapidly realized it couldn’t afford to determine its personal forex, central financial institution, judiciary, and regulatory our bodies. This was very true as, with independence, it additionally needed to assume the prices of its personal defence and international affairs.
Towards this background, a course of “independence inside interdependence” was proposed within the 1979 handle. This proposal included a number of key components: solidifying, in a binding construction, the idea of WISA, which was rooted within the recognition of regional cooperation; constructing on the “particular relationship” of the Leeward and Windward Islands, based mostly on geography, historical past, financial actuality, and customary bonds; and, whereas retaining particular person sovereignty, pooling that sovereignty to be stronger collectively.
The imaginative and prescient took root, and two years later, in 1981, after intensive session and dialogue among the many seven international locations, the Treaty of Basseterre was signed, and the OECS was born. The treaty was drafted by Abbas Bundu, a Sierra Leonese constitutional lawyer from the Commonwealth Secretariat, whom I accompanied on his journey of session. The underlying theme of these discussions was mirrored within the phrases of the 1979 handle: “We’ve integral ties of parenthood, historical past, and custom; primarily, we’re the identical individuals.”
Attaining the treaty was aided significantly by 4 components. First, the standing of then Prime Minister of St. Lucia, John Compton, and his dedication to the idea, offered within the Antigua 1978 presentation, of independence “inside a framework of interdependence.” Second, the help of Antigua’s influential chief, Vere Cornwall Hen, for the thought of widespread duties and shared prices. Third, the endorsement of Maurice Bishop, who led a cold revolution in Grenada in March 1979 to oust the tyrannical Eric Gairy, regardless of having an uneasy relationship with the leaders of the six different international locations. Fourth, the help of radical intellectuals corresponding to Leonard Tim Hector (Antigua), George Odlum (St. Lucia), and Ralph Gonsalves (St. Vincent and the Grenadines).
On June 18, 1981, the OECS was born, retaining from their colonial administration, integration components that took the EU many years to construct and which CARICOM has but to attain. CARICOM introduced in 1989 its intention to advance to a Single Market Financial system however failed to take action for 22 years earlier than “pausing” it in 2011. The combination mechanisms that the OECS retained included a typical forex, which facilitated the free motion of products and providers; a typical Foreign money Authority (later the Jap Caribbean Central Financial institution), which ensured efficient and revered monetary and financial regulation; a typical judiciary; a Regional Safety System; and different regulatory our bodies such because the Jap Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority.
Between 1986 and 1988, there was a failed try to provoke a political union of the OECS international locations by then Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, James Mitchell, with lively help from St. Lucia’s John Compton. Though the initiative had appreciable benefit, it failed on account of political rivalry that made little provision for significant involvement by opposition political events within the formulation of the idea. As Ralph Gonsalves put it on the time, “the steadiness of the political forces as represented within the political events, out and in of presidency, favour(ed) the slowing down and even halting of the unity practice.”
Nonetheless, twenty-nine years later, in 2010, the OECS governments revised the Treaty to formalize two additional features of a Frequent Market. They made the motion of individuals, together with for work, simpler throughout their international locations and laid down the rules for reaching an Financial Union. Whereas the latter stays a piece in progress, the OECS is sort of on the level of building a Customs Union.
There may be nonetheless a lot work to be performed to harmonize joint positions on incentives for international funding and to finish competitors in sectors like cruise tourism and the Citizenship by Funding schemes operated by 5 of the member states. Rival politics for nationwide acquire have undermined the collective good.
Nonetheless, the OECS stands as we speak as essentially the most mature and profitable integration challenge of sovereign states outdoors the EU. It gives a mannequin for the CARICOM group, highlighting that their future success, notably in going through world challenges corresponding to compensation for the harm of local weather change, worldwide bargaining, entry to financing, and threats to peace and safety, will depend on deeper and simpler integration.
(The author is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS. The views expressed are completely his personal)
