President Barack Obama and President Bharrat Jagdeo at the Summit opening on Friday

Mr. Jagdeo said the difference with Obama is his laudable leadership style encapsulated by his willingness to sit at the table, with fresh ideas and a new civilised approach based on goodwill, and engage the leaders of the Americas with the understanding that “we may not all agree on every issue, but at least we can disagree respectfully and then recognise that people have choices too”.

He alluded to the fact that President Obama sat through almost all of the plenary and other sessions yesterday, quite unusual for a head of state of his stature. On top of that, he did it with a full, high-level team backing him, including his Secretary of State Mrs. Hillary Clinton.

Noting that it is “very unusual” for a head of State to do that, President Jagdeo recalled attending several summits and similar meetings in the past, including with former U.S. President George W. Bush, but find that “you eventually end up with some low-level official in the chair representing the U.S.”

“It’s this willingness by President Obama to listen and to engage, and with the understanding that we may not all agree on every issue, but at least we can disagree respectfully and then recognise that people have choices too,” President Jagdeo told a packed news conference at the Summit venue in Port-of-Spain last evening.

“I don’t anticipate that everything will be wonderful about this relationship; I agree that there will be disagreements from time to time; but when you can do so in a civilised and respectful fashion; then you’re on the right tract,” the President asserted.

President Jagdeo, who led a team of Regional leaders late Friday night in discussions on several crucial issues, including the global financial crisis and the issue of climate change, during a high profile meeting with Obama, said the U.S. President’s “very enlightened” response to “all of the issues raised” was a welcome departure from many of the meetings and summits in the past where leaders of large countries ignore the issues raised by smaller countries.

The Guyanese leader, who was chosen by his colleague Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Friday night’s wide-ranging discussions with Obama at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Trinidad, the summit venue, said he raised a number of issues and was pleasantly surprised that President Obama responded to all of the individual issues, a departure from what obtains in the past with other leaders of big countries.  

President Jagdeo said following his presentation on behalf of the region at the closed-door session, Obama responded to the issues raised “in a very enlightened fashion”.

“I must say it is a very welcome departure from many of the meetings I have had where leaders, especially of the large countries, ignore the issues that you raise…Obama’s approach was different; he engaged on every one of those issues.”

President Jagdeo made no bones about declaring this is a good signal of rapidly improving relations between the U.S. and countries of this hemisphere.

According to him, with Obama’s presence at the Summit, there are “historic opportunities” that his administration now presents for renewed hope and optimism in a rapidly changing relationship for the better between the U.S. and the countries in this hemisphere.

“…that is the key thing,” President Jagdeo said.

“Even if we don’t get all the decisions now, if we can just have an improvement in the relationships between countries in our hemisphere, particularly the rest of the countries and the United States of America, that will set the pace for us to resolve many of the region’s issues in the future. And that is what I think is historic about this Summit,” President Jagdeo reasoned.

“We raised all the issues that we wanted to raise…I listed to them and explained the region’s perspectives and it was very good, he (Obama) was very engaging,” Mr. Jagdeo said, adding that Obama has even agreed to meet with CARICOM leaders again later this year in Washington.

“We focused on several things, but I think the key thing is economic prosperity for our people…creating this new partnership between the U.S. and the Caribbean based on a better understanding of how our region is different from some other regions,” the President said.

Updating the media on the outcome of Friday night’s meeting with Obama, Mr. Jagdeo said he spoke extensively about the need for the U.S. government to understand the peculiarities of the region and how different it is from other regions of the world.

The narrow production base, vulnerabilities to natural disasters and the impact of international trade decisions on small open economies were some of the issues raised and discussed during the meeting.

“So what I urged is a better understanding of the peculiarities of the Caribbean which are different from those of other regions…we also spoke about the global financial crisis and how the U.S. can help us to fashion international institutions that are responsive to our needs in this region,” President Jagdeo said.

He noted that the instruments that the international institutions are going to use to lend or to extend grants to these countries, the cost of borrowing, the flexibility to create different types of instruments are all very important.

“So we argued more for very practical types of reforms of the global financial institutions,” he said.

President Jagdeo said he also spoke extensively about the need for the new partnership between the region and the United States to be based on “respect, trust and facts”.

In this regard, the President said he cited some of the examples he had given in Guyana about the trafficking in persons and drug trafficking and how sometimes the Reports emanating out of the U.S. State Department are inaccurate and very damaging.

Obama gave an undertaking to look into this matter immediately, since it is something that doesn’t cost much.

“I was very pleased when he turned to (U.S. Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton and he said to her that ‘we need to look at this; this doesn’t cost money. We can do some of these things quickly’,” Mr. Jagdeo reported.

The President said what he is asking for is “better Reports” that do not generate conflicts and don’t come over as lectures, but Reports that would reflect genuine cooperation between these countries.

CLIMATE CHANGE
President Jagdeo, CARICOM’s lead spokesperson on agriculture and the environment, and a strong advocate on the world stage for climate change, said he raised this crucial issue with President Obama.

“We also spoke extensively about climate change…we had a good exchange,” the Guyanese leader said.

President Obama – who flew in to Trinidad late Friday on his private jet amid extra-tight security, and who has been a major ‘star attraction’ throughout the Summit so far, is making his first diplomatic foray as U.S. leader in Latin America and the Caribbean.

CUBA
As expected, Obama started on a very good note when in a much anticipated address to leaders and representatives of the 34 countries attending the Summit, he announced that the United States is seeking a “new beginning” with Cuba.

“Every one of our nations has a right to follow its own path…but we all have a responsibility to see that the people of the Americas have the ability to pursue their own dreams in democratic societies (and) toward that end, the United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba ,” Obama declared.

“I am prepared to have my administration engage with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues — from human rights, free speech and democratic reform to drugs, migration and economic issues,” he said.

President Jagdeo said regional leaders applauded the moves by President Obama and the United States administration on the issue of Cuba.

“We spoke about (Cuba) and we applauded the recent moves by the U.S. government and President Obama’s administration to ease travel restrictions and to allow remittances to flow to Cuba.”

“We think it is a good first step. We also welcomed the commitment to dialogue with the Cuban authorities. We also recognised that Cuba is prepared to talk about everything on the table,” President Jagdeo said.

“I expressed the hope of the region that this would all lead to the removal of the embargo. I pointed out the historical injustices of the embargo; it is the last remaining vestige of the cold war in the region,” the Guyanese Head-of-State posited.

“We told President Obama we hope that, eventually, the embargo on Cuba will be removed. We think it is a cold war relic and we think it is unjust,” President Jagdeo said.  

The President also spoke extensively on Cuba’s support for countries in the region, especially in the areas of education and health.

Asked to comment on the fear that the issue of Cuba might dominate the Summit talks and overshadow other crucial issues, such as the global financial crisis, President Jagdeo said ‘No’.

“Cuba is important; but it will not dominate the Summit,” he said matter-of-factly.

He noted that the issue of Cuba came up at the UNASUR meeting yesterday morning but it did not dominate the meeting.

“In fact everyone, from Chavez to Morales…to Lula; everyone spoke about the need to improve relations and that this was a wonderful, historic opportunity to do so,” President Jagdeo said.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General of CARICOM, Mr. Edwin Carrington, has expressed confidence that the Summit would change the relationship between the Community and the rest of the hemisphere. In particular, the Secretary-General said the Summit would give participating countries an opportunity to strengthen their relationship with the United States.

“The Fifth Summit will provide an opportunity for the region to get to know President Barack Obama early on in the new administration, and for the U.S. leader to develop a more complete and nuanced understanding of our priorities and concerns. For the Caribbean, as well as for the other sub-regions of the Americas, this presents an invaluable opportunity to be heard,” the Secretary-General said.

The Summit of the Americas brings together 34 Hemispheric Heads of State and Government to exchange ideas and opinions on the main political, economic, social and security challenges facing the hemisphere, and to develop strategies and solutions to collectively address these challenges.