– President Jagdeo
President Bharrat Jagdeo has said he is very pleased that the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, had chosen to attend the 31st first meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM.
He said that, in the past, he had been critical of the World Bank, the IMF and the United Nations (UN) for sending low-level representatives to important meetings of the grouping.
He believes that the multilateral institutions are aware of the region’s challenges, including the effort to construct a viable economy for the medium and long-terms in light of the global financial crisis.
He said such institutions are aware of the immediate problems some member states face in meeting their bills. One of the ways he said the IMF can help in the short-term is by making available to CARICOM states some of their existing facilities.
He said the region needs the support of the IFIs in the development of a new development model appropriate to small developing countries, and one that will be significantly different from the model sought after by developed countries.
Addressing the regional media at a press conference in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on Tuesday, President Jagdeo said he told the UN Secretary General that the world governing body should change its development lexicon and be supportive of developing states.
He said while the UN has met with Small Island Developing States, they have not been placed in any significant way into the developmental description of the UN. He said unless the UN does so, CARICOM states will not be seen as a group of countries with vulnerabilities that are different from others, requiring a different set of development tools to address their concerns.
For such model building, President Jagdeo said, “there is need for political support and an approach has been made to several countries in the G8 and for the support of the heads of the IFIs”.
President Jagdeo believes now is the time for more technical work to be done in support of the region’s case for a development model. He believes with these mechanisms in place, there could be success in changing the development paradigm of the region. He is optimistic that such changes could influence discussions at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) level since the current focus is on Lesser Developed Countries receiving special and differential treatment.
However, Caribbean countries do not qualify since they are not recognised at that level as a special category.
The Guyanese Head of State said too that with the region setting a development agenda it envisages for itself, it could for the first time ever see debt relief being given to middle-income countries.
“It would allow us to get a significant chunk of the money set aside for climate change, again because of our peculiar vulnerabilities,” the President posited.
He reiterated, however, that the first task of the region has to be model-building because the model supports the argument for special treatment. As it relates to leadership of the process, President Jagdeo said it is a regional task and that of the heads to work together in this regard.
He believes too that the technical experts in the region need enthusiasm to push the model forward. “There has not been a coordinated lobby for the desired result, but now there is a serious attempt among leaders, some of whom took convincing that the model shared is the way out of the region’s financial woes.”
President Jagdeo said the thought of wanting to change the region’s economic fortunes internationally was naïve, since no single country could get debt write-off or special treatment without the facilities being changed. He anticipates now that lobbying efforts will increase.
The leaders met in Port of Spain on May 24, 2009, and discussed ways and means to solve the problems gripping the region. The Guyanese Head of State said then that it was vital for all the leaders to have a common approach before they meet the IMF and the Inter American Development Bank, since they have to know how much funds would be required to sustain the various countries.
President Jagdeo said to that it is essential for the region to present a proper case before these big international agencies.
Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow echoed this sentiment. He said then that there is a need for the regional bloc to implement a clear strategy to deal with the crisis and announced that a five-member task force will be set up to advise and make recommendations to CARICOM leaders.
President Jagdeo was appointed to chair that commission. Some economists in the region asked if it was really necessary to have yet another task force when a group of top government advisors can meet and formulate a proposal. (GINA)