Prime Minister Perry Christie said that The Bahamas has to become more competitive in the information and technology race, as Caribbean countries struggle to find other means of sustaining their failing agricultural economies.
Mr. Christie, who was responding to concerns raised by those Caribbean-producing countries, over the recent reduction in trade prices by the European Union, was speaking at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). The three-day biennial meeting, which was held in Malta, ended yesterday.
Some of the countries have been placed in very vulnerable positions, the 2005 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was told.
The Prime Minister of St. Kitts & Nevis, Dr Denzil Douglas, expressed concern that his country is now rated the second highest in debt to GDP ratio in the world.
Guyana was forced to place about 100,000 employees in its failed sugar industry out of work. And, Barbados is faced with spending over $100 million in finding a substitute for sugar.
The difficulty that the countries, which produce sugar face, is that they have argued for a longer transition period to enable them to substitute other industries for sugar. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
The effort being made is to bring additional focus on the challenges facing these countries and their limited capacity to replace these products in a timely fashion. Hence, there is a tremendous concern as to the alternatives facing significant parts of the population.
For The Bahamas, the point is always that tourism is its main industry, followed by financial services.
“Given the fact that both are relatively effective and efficient modes of development, there is early belief that when we look to alternative revenue for Caribbean countries, that the competition will grow because tourism and financial services would become even more attractive to those countries given the model that The Bahamas has established,” Mr. Christie said.
“We anticipate that it is even more important for The Bahamas that we make ourselves more competitive, more efficient, because of the problems countries in the Caribbean face, firstly with bananas and sugar.”
Added Mr. Christie:” When you listen and see the absolute significant impact on the economy and loss of revenue in these countries, you know that they must turn themselves into fierce competitors in the region,” he said.
And, in an intervention by The Bahamas, focus was brought to bear on the special vulnerability of economies that can be wiped out by one disaster.
The Prime Minister also noted that The Bahamas has been fortunate, despite being affected by two devastating hurricanes in 2004.
Meanwhile, countries are looking to the upcoming Sixth World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference slated for Hong Kong December 6.
The primary task is to shape the final agreement of the Doha Development Agenda, which members hope to complete by 2006.
The agreement calls for, among other things, determining the scale of reductions in tariffs on products and farm subsidies.
Around 53 countries are part of the Commonwealth today. It covers 1.8 billion citizens – the equivalent of some 30 percent of the world’s population.
Mr. Christie and his delegation, which included Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell and Minister of Tourism, Obie Wilchcombe, are expected to return home today.
Source: The Bahama Journal
