DESPITE THE welcome expansion of the G-20 nations of the rich and powerful to blend with emerging economic powers in Asia (China and India), Africa (South Africa and Nigeria) and Latin America (Brazil), the reality is that small, poor and developing states continue to function, at best, on the periphery of crucial global economic and financial decision-making.

At worse, they are isolated, or, as President Bharrat Jagdeo noted last Friday in addressing the Rotary Club of Georgetown, simply “shut out” of key international fora when critical global decisions are made.

For all the platitudes from the rich and powerful nations, among them those where the prevailing global financial and economic crisis originated, the disadvantaged and vulnerable economies continue to be first in line when discriminatory decisions are taken on, for instance, tightening regulations in the financial sector.

A current example is the recent bitter complaint by the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. Denzil Douglas, who is now serving also as Chairman of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Dr. Douglas was referring to the undue pressures being brought against countries of that sub-region of CARICOM, as well as Belize, by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Developoment (OECD), and France in particular, by having small states ‘blacklisted’ for claimed non-cooperation in regulating their off-shore banking sector.

No need to ask whether such a ‘list’ includes any of the developed nations of Europe. The answer is ‘no’. The rhetoric that traditionally flows from North (rich) to South (poor and developing), about ‘partnership’ for stability and progress really exists primarily among the ‘un-equals’ to the rich.

It is, of course, also relevant to observe that the poor and developing nations must bear a significant portion of the blame for the discrimination and contempt frequently suffered by the decisions of the rich nations.

This is a direct consequence of their own failure to overcome differences in approaches among themselves, and to act in unison to avoid the fragmentations that result from strategies and manipulations by the powerful, as represented in what remains the core group of the G-20 — namely, the G-8 bloc of nations.

Since the disadvantages articulated by President Jagdeo are undoubtedly shared by some other CARICOM Heads of Government, the question of relevance at this  time is: What efforts are underway by the Caribbean Community to formulate a coherent consensual position among the member governments ahead of the next G-20 Summit scheduled to take place in Canada in June this year?