Pros and cons of PetroCaribe Agreement examined

SOME of the weaknesses and strengths of the PetroCaribe agreement were highlighted during a recently hosted panel discussion and forum.

Weighing in on the topic, lecturer in the Department of Government, Sociology and Social Work at the Cave Hill campus, Kai-Ann Skeete, suggested that some of the benefits outlined in the agreement include an appropriate or suitable means of integration as small developing countries and the provision of social assistance. She said it also generates additional savings for countries and deepens and widens Caribbean integration.

On the other hand, some of the weaknesses include the potential to endanger the private sector; Venezuelan dominance, which was seen in Guyana; and the potential to divide CARICOM.

“Barbados produces approximately 1 000 bpd and has an arrangement with Trinidad and Tobago to refine the oil. Therefore, Barbados refused to sign on to the PetroCaribe as it could affect its relations with Trinidad, which affords Barbados a preferential supply,” she said.

She also suggested that purchasing oil at cheaper a cost could be more harmful if not managed efficiently.

Skeete told the large audience in the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination that CARICOM Member States should indicate their intention to CARICOM and what they would like to achieve from joining the treaty agreement, the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of our Americas (ALBA).

ALBA is an international cooperation organisation based on the idea of the social, political and economic integration of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. The nine member countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Venezuela and St. Lucia.

She stated: “It is duly recommended that if other CARICOM states wish to integrate and accept the principles of ALBA, it is necessary to negotiate within CARICOM on the terms to ensure that our national interests will not be compromised.

“There is a need for a CARICOM-wide collective agreement to assist Member States in achieving the collective gains of these strategic partnerships and alliance formations such as the ALBA.”

The lecturer recommended that the ALBA secure its future with CARICOM by assisting the region in achieving its development goals and visions. “Therefore, if the ALBA-Caribe continues to be implemented as planned, it could offer to the Caribbean more than what CARICOM currently offers as it goes beyond the economic realm and focuses in-depth on the social rights of citizens.”

Skeete explained that ALBA is novel in trade agreements as it is not the typical commercially driven agreement, because it is based on the principles of complementarity as an alternative to competition; solidarity as opposed to domination; cooperation as a replacement for exploitation; and respect for sovereignty rather than corporate rule.

She added that ALBA is implemented through government-to-government agreements and not treaties as in trade agreements, and it is a bartering type of arrangement where a country has the option of paying with other goods and services such as sugar, bananas etc. (JH)