It’s time to move on!

PRIME Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, has told representatives of the region’s public and private sectors that any framework constructed to advance its economy must be one that is modern, people-focused and competitive, having tentacles which expand beyond the national level to the regional and global markets. All components of this formulation, he argued, were greatly needed at present.

Dr. Gonsalves was at the time giving the keynote address at a Caribbean Exporters’ Colloquium which kicked off last week Wednesday at Hilton Barbados. The Colloquium finished last week Thursday and saw an impressive cross-section of speakers, including senior government officials, business leaders, and officials from business support organisations based throughout the CARIFORUM region.

From left: Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
Dr. Ralph Gonsalves; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade,
Senator Maxine McClean; and Sir Shridath Ramphal, during a break
in the Caribbean Exporters’ Colloquium, which kicked off
on Wednesday, March 20, at the Hilton Barbados.

Gonsalves, who delivered his address shortly before Session 3 of the first day’s proceedings, warned against lamenting about occurrences which may have dealt harsh economic blows to the region, but were inseparable from a post-colonial socio-economic framework.

“In a post-colonial world, we have to come to terms with all of these matters and don’t lament them. We fight certain battles but when we recognise that we have lost, we [must] move on to do [whatever is necessary to] sell our goods and services and ensure their availability,” he opined.

Using the breakdown of in some cases, pre-independence trading relationships, he urged the region to move forward by focusing on producing goods and services competitively, something that was critical for exporting.

Recognising that each island had its own set of circumstances with respect to the way in which it treated to export preparation and execution, Dr. Gonsalves stated that the common thread was the need to produce quality goods and services at competitive prices, in sufficient quantities and on a sustainable basis to target markets.

Possibilities

The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines highlighted several possibilities which the region ought to exploit, namely: the presence of various energy sources such as hydro, geothermal wind and solar power; good weather all year round; an educated and easily trained labour force; beautiful land and seascapes; close proximity to North America; an efficient public administration system and a patriotic domestic private sector.

He also highlighted the region’s ability to attract a modest level of foreign direct investment.

Dr. Gonsalves urged the Caribbean to “embrace unequivocally the deepening of regional integration amidst all of its challenges and [seek to adopt] a profound sense of international solidarity between like-minded nations, groups and people”.

He told his audience that with these possibilities and more, they should not leave the end of their deliberations with a sense of helplessness, but identify and pursue action steps to surmount prevailing challenges and difficulties. (RA)