Keith Collister, Gleaner Writer
MOSS-SOLOMON
THE SECOND meeting of the Caribbean Chambers of Commerce and Industry started yesterday, and continues today at the Hilton hotel in New Kingston. The event is a collaboration between the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) and the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC). The respective Presidents of the JCC, Mr. Noel daCosta, and the CAIC, Mr. James Moss-Solomon,
welcomed the representatives of the regional Chambers.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Moss-Solomon lamented the difficulties faced by the regions' small entrepreneurs, stating that if Bill Gates had been born in one of the CARICOM countries, he would never have become a billionaire, arguing there is a clear need for regional mechanisms to encourage entrepreneurial ideas. He argued that businesses must lead by example, as they will only respond when they see other people making money, not to what they read in the paper.
He emphasised the need for regional collaboration in achieving business expansion, thereby turning national companies into regional companies. He believes the regions typical private/family owned companies are too small to compete in the current globalised world. We have to look outwards as the overall size of our collective markets in the CSME are too small to allow for the development of companies with a truly global outreach.
Whilst he suggested that he was not denigrating efforts at the macroeconomic level, he urged that business pay more attention to the microeconomic indicators over which they have control than macroeconomic indicators such as inflation. The current maxim that "it the private sector who trades" is quite true. The CAIC, he believes, must give priority treatment to encouraging actual trade activities, rather than being observers only in the language of trade negotiations.
For example, he believes that Caribbean business needs to meet with the relevant statistical bureaus across Caricom to have trade data disaggregated into a more usable form than at present. In the case of the economic statistics for non-traditional exports for example, one would focus instead on the number of papayas, oranges and bottles of beer they produce for export rather than aggregate numbers.
The meeting was also fortunate to have Ms. Aliston Stone from the Ministry of Foregin Affairs to give an update on the CSME and the status of our other external trade negotiations. She advised that the FTAA was currently in hiatus due to disagreement amongst its co-Chairs, the United States and Brazil.
The Doha Round of world trade negotiations represent a watershed, as it had been hoped that these critical negotiations would yield global trading rules, taking into the needs of small countries. In her view however, special and differential treatment, a key negotiating position, has not been taken sufficiently into account by the developing countries. The July negotiations stalled over tariff cuts, and trade reducing domestic support (pursued mainly by developed countries) and signs that the development agenda has been marginalised.
The EU/ACP currently negotiating the Post Cotonu agreement. Essentially, the Ministry believes the EU are essentially negotiating to end preferential trade agreements, particularly for agricultural products of the region such as bananas. In the case of sugar, the EU appears to want to expand their sugar exports whist simultaneously dramatically reducing the preferences for Caribbean sugar. Her view was that if we do not succeed in these negotiations, present and future generations of Caribbean people would be severely impacted. In her view, in such an environment regional private sectors have a unique role in ensuring regional economies don't fail.
The first meeting of the Caribbean Chambers of Commerce and Industry in fact took place this year in Port of Spain, Trinidad at the end of April. That timely inaugural meeting, coming on the heels of the inauguration of the Caribbean Court of Justice, was Chaired by Trinidad Chamber of Commerce President Christian Mouttet.
