By Kenton X. Chance
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (CMC) — The chairman of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre, Tuesday called for the fast-tracking of a regime to ensure the free movement of goods.
“We cannot progress in fits and starts. We cannot step off the desired path of the revised treaty to chase after shiny objects that appear along the way,” Pierre, the St. Lucia prime minister, said as he addressed the Seventh Sitting of the OECS Assembly taking place here.
“We must steer the course. We must be brutal in our self-assessment, rigorous and prompt when adjustments are needed, and uncompromising in striving to attain the objectives of our treaty,” Pierre told the meeting, which was being held for the first time since March 2022.
He said the work on the free movement of goods began several years ago.
“We knew then how critical it was for the OECS to move beyond the existing free movement of goods and people framework to cement the single space by establishing a regime that would ensure goods will move without fetter once they satisfied formalities at the regional border.”
Pierre, however, said he would not dwell on “the tardiness that has attended the introduction of this regime.
“Suffice it to say, the free circulation of goods is a natural calling to the free movement of people and the establishment operation of businesses in a single financial and economic space.
“We must get it done,” Pierre said, adding that the introduction of tariffs in the OECS economic space “will further put more pressure on the quality of life of our people if we do not do something now.
“And importantly, we must do so with the collective responsibility of this assembly and the assembly of the OECS parliamentarians.”
Pierre said that the assembly is the forum for the people and is not a miscalculation, but rather a deliberate mechanism for ensuring that, irrespective of their political persuasion, every citizen of an OECS member state feels that they are represented when high-level regional policy and legislative decisions are made.
“It is significant that we are constituted as national delegations designated by our parliaments to represent national perspectives,” Pierre told regional leaders.
He noted that in this vein, the assembly will consider five bills for the free circulation of goods regime. The bills are the OECS Animal Health Bill, OECS Plant Protection Bill, the OECS Food Safety Bill, the OECS Standards Bill and the OECS Customs Control and Management Bill.
The OECS chairman said that the respective cabinets have considered these bills as necessary and sufficiently sound to merit deliberation by the OECS assembly.
“Barring any dissent, each of our delegations will return to capital and submit the bills with a recommendation for enactment in our national laws,” Pierre said, adding that the respective governments are aware that the work of the OECS continues.
He said that assembly members are all aware that the work of the OECS continues, adding that leaders are soon to consider legislation on rights contingent to free movement of people, as well as the completion of the architecture for the OECS Customs Union, including harmonizing the border tax structure and the border management structure and systems.
“It is my sincere opinion and my expectation that we will attach the warranted urgency to this exercise, ensuring that presently, the free circulation of goods regime is able to function and we bridge the existing divide between the full and unhindered movement of people and of goods in the single space,” Pierre said.
“Let us always remember that we are here to represent people and to ensure that they have better quality of life.”
The St. Lucian prime minister noted that the assembly was taking place under the theme “Strengthening Regional Unity In A Shifting Global Order”, saying, however, that in considering the theme, the assembly must resist the notion “that somehow our integration is dictated by the international order.
“Rather than that, we are ultimately responsible, as representatives of the people, to chart the destiny of our region.”
He said that for small states such as those in the OECS, “there is never a time when we can rest on our laurels.
“There’s never a time when we can take for granted our achievements, no matter how great we deemed them to be.”
Pierre said that the entry into force of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre, which established the OECS Economic Union in 2011, was marked as a significant milestone for the bloc.
“But, in the context of the regional integration process that is the economic union, the realists among us would see it as an achievement in its pure, unvarnished form, as the legal springboard from which to launch the most significant regional development initiative for our OECS member states
“It is the basis for transformation of the economies and societies of every member state, and the foundation on which we undertake to construct a region that will stand the test of time.”
He said that with the recent changes in the geopolitical environment, the opinion has been expressed that now more than ever, the region must give impetus to regional integration and collaboration, whether at the level of the OECS, CARICOM or the Association of Caribbean States.
“I am of the view that the integration of our region should not be reliant on external factors, but rather on our own appreciation of a pan-OECS, pan-Caribbean approach, an imperative to our very survival, given particularly that we rank among the smallest and most exposed countries in the world.”
Pierre said that the fact is that the global order has, for many years, been in flux.
“For small states, flux is a constant, a shifting global order is a constant, an unpredictable international environment has become the background against which we undertake the development of our region.”
He said that strengthening regional unity is therefore a constant.
“It is evident that the OECS founders were inspired by this awareness when they embarked on the regional integration process. Consequently, out of their wisdom, their all-encompassing vision, they sowed the seeds for a region that would be more than robust, more resilient than it was in 1981 and a region of viable sovereign states.”
Pierre said the OECS integration agenda has had to evolve to reflect the progression of time and the ever-changing circumstances.
“Hence, the revision of the Treaty of Basseterre, the preamble of the protocol of the economic union articulates our conviction that the establishment of an economic union will contribute to the rapid growth of participating states and the ultimate creation of a viable economic community of Caribbean countries.
“We underscore the need to move in concert in order to guarantee steady expansion, balance trade, fair competition and the equitable distribution of rights.”
He said the OECS is resolved to act together to eliminate barriers to securing its economic and social development.
“This deeper integration is not temporary, not meant to be time-bound nor reactive. So, neither today, nor at any time, ought we to be scrambling to bring to fruition critical elements of a revised treaty that entered into force in 2011, passed into action by outside forces.
“No, today we should be fine-tuning our systems that were already in place, becoming even more resilient because our economic union pillars have been standing and we have been operating within the tensile strength of our entire block of countries that constitute the OECS.”
Pierre noted that the quest for an ever-stronger OECS has been ongoing.
“If our countries and people are not only to survive but to prosper and to do so in spite of the challenges we face today and those we inevitably confront in time, we must be realistic, innovative, nimble, perhaps even stoic, taking account that the world does not cater to those who are insufficiently endowed to pay the piper,” Pierre said.
“The course that our states, by virtue of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre, have charted towards economic union is testament to our determination to place our countries on the road to development, to deliver tangible benefits to all participating states, and, ultimately, to advance the circumstances of the people of the OECS.
“For St. Lucia, it is our considered view that this has to be the real litmus test of progress in the economic union and the OECS: the extent to which all the regional policies, laws, institutions and actions enhance the lives and welfare of our people”
Pierre said that this, ultimately, is “the motivation, the justification for integration. A successful OECS integration, grounded in the enhanced welfare of our people, assumes added significance for us and is constantly the motto of the Government of St Lucia, which is, putting people first.
“Having said this, we recognise that the attainment of the economic union is not a short-term affair. It demands sustained effort, commitment, settling in for the long haul. It demands heavy lifting and a laser-sharp focus of the energy of the organisation on the attainment of the objectives of the economic union,” Pierre told the legislators from the sub-region.
The OECS groups the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.