Arthur By Donna Ortega, News Editor
QUEBEC CITY, CANADA:
CARICOM LEADER and Prime Minister of Barbados Owen Arthur has warned hemispheric leaders that special consideration to small economies through financial support was vital to the creation of a community of the Americas.
At the same time he pressed for Cuba's inclusion in the fashioning of this community in keeping with the resolve by Jamaica and its CARICOM partners to bring Cuba to the negotiating table.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2001 Summit of the Americas, Mr. Arthur reminded his audience that the process of integration began in 1815 when Simon Bolivar, writing from Jamaica in his famous letters, expressed his vision for a great community of the Americas which drew upon the rich diversity of the region.
He urged the leaders to commit to creating the society that the people wanted as he described problems affecting the people of the Caribbean including increasing poverty that had made them begin to lose confidence in the future. "They see the dark side of globalisation and free trade," he said which included a fear of loss of jobs and depersonalisation.
Economic
benefits
Leaders who saw the economic benefits "found their voices drowned out by the clamour against globalisation" but, he argued that they should accept blame since the benefits of trade had been unequally distributed. He argued for a change of patterns, to include co-operation that would fulfil the promise of free trade which rests on the relationships between countries that were fractured by inequalities.
Mr. Arthur urged recognition of the different patterns of development in the hemisphere paying special regard to small economies in the face of an attempt to do what had never been done before to bring the most powerful and the most disadvantaged nations together. The European Union, he said, saw the need to create financial mechanisms to support them. "Nothing less is required if to become a single community of the Americas," he said.
According to the Barbadian Prime Minister, CARICOM was committed to a realistic timetable for the FTAA negotiations to be concluded by 2005. He outlined the assets which the Caribbean Community was bringing to the wider process such as a history of stable democratic governance, and creativity in forging freedom in the face of stern adversity, respect for human rights and social justice.
Respect for and tolerance of differences of opinion therefore must fashion the community in which none must be excluded. "The time has come to engage Cuba in the community," he stressed, an idea supported by Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso who said he hoped Cuba would soon bring to 35 the number of countries in the hemisphere involved in the Summit process.
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien denounced the violence which marked the start of the Summit. He said that peaceful protests are part of "a people's democratic rights and Canada welcomed anyone who came to advance their views on ways to enhance human progress, but "violence and provocation are unacceptable," he said.
