The demise of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery

By Ian Francis:


There was no wake, prayers or visitation when the Heads of CARICOM Governments made the decision in Belize to bury the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) and support the emergence of the Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN), which is now under the direct supervision of the CARICOM Secretary General headed by Ambassador Gail Mathurin.

I must confess my ignorance about Ambassador Mathurin’s permanent location but am extremely aware of her air jaunts between Grantley Adams and Cheddi Jagan airports.

The death of the CRNM was not a surprise. In the first instance, its creation should not have been entertained but the arm twisting of former Prime Minister Patterson by Sir Shridath and his other regional cronies resulted in “PJ’s” agreement for the creation of the CRNM.

It was very clear from the start that Sir Shridath brought forward the creation of the CRNM as he was determined to establish his own beachhead in Barbados and to flex his muscles within the multilateral community as a former secretary-general of the Commonwealth and foreign minister of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.

It worked well for him, which led to the recruitment of key lifeguards, including Richie Bernal of Jamaica and Henry Gill of the Republic of Trinidad. Both individuals are well known within regional circles and have always demonstrated their distinctive qualities, skills and experience.

The exit of Sir Shridath from the CRNM was influenced by many occurrences. Prime Minister Patterson made the decision to demit office; there were couple of general elections held in the region, which resulted in the change of governments.

Sir Shridath saw the death warrant and was not prepared for the sentencing so his only saved-face option was to quietly exit from the CRNM. His clout and influence with some of the CARICOM Heads had dried up, thus making his reliance for survival untenable.

Prior to his departure from the CRNM, he carefully crafted his replacement which resulted in Jamaican-born Ambassador Richard Bernal assuming the direction of the CRNM.

Although Bernal assumed the position with great pomp, the weariness of the CRNM by CARICOM Heads grew, which made it difficult for the ambassador to run and manage an effective institution within the region. With much frustration, Ambassador Bernal saw an opening at a Washington-based international agency and decided to accept a position where he is now based and might be considering a run for the Secretary General position of CARICOM. We will have to wait and see as his cell phone number remains the same.

Bernal’s departure ensured that another lifeguard in the name of Henry Gill was quite appropriate for the position and assumed direction of the CRNM. Unfortunately, Gill’s term at the CRNM was short-lived.

The Heads of CARICOM at the Belize meeting made the firm decision that all trade negotiations should be under the aegis of the Secretariat, which meant that a major part of the CRNM based in Barbados would have to merge within the Georgetown Secretariat, thus bringing Gill under the reporting umbrella of the Secretary General.

As rumours have it, Gill vowed not to re-locate to Guyana and wanted no part of reporting to Carrington. This led to Gill’s demittal from the CRNM where he has now entered the regional lucrative environment of consulting.

In essence, Carrington and his group at the Secretariat won the fight, which led to the Secretary General’s immediate task of creating the OTN within the Secretariat.

Given the entire milieu above, several important trade negotiations between the Caribbean and many Western nations were announced. A famous and active negotiation is known as the CaribCan Trade Agreement, which is now taking place between the Commonwealth Caribbean nations and Canada.

The CaribCan Trade Agreement was first introduced in 1985 by the then Mulroney Conservative government. Unfortunately, much was not achieved in the area of trade and investments between the two regions. Very little was done in Canada to promote the initiative and the Caribbean governments made the tactical error by maintaining the agreement tightly shut in their industry ministries’ closet.

Canada in the last three years announced its intention to re-engage the Commonwealth Caribbean region, not only in bilateral and multilateral assistance but also to promote trade and investments between the two regions by rewriting the trade agreement.

Canada has kept its promise by providing financial assistance to the old CRNM and so far has engaged the OTN in three rounds of discussion with respect to the trade agreement. In addition, there have been other initiatives through the hosting of regional workshops by the (OECS-EDU).

Unfortunately, the participants and players for such events should be exporters, entrepreneurs and other participants that are interested in trade and investments environment. Unfortunately, there is a constant replay of government and state corporations’ representatives dominating these workshops, with exporters and entrepreneurs being left on the periphery.

In a recent conservation with an Ottawa-based senior foreign service official close to the CaribCan trade negotiations, I took the opportunity to share with him a press bulletin, which was issued by the OTN stating that negotiations are moving full speed ahead.

The diplomat known for his tight lips gave a loud laugh and said to me, “The agreement has been redrafted already and we have asked our Caribbean friends to check out full compliance with the World Trade Organization rules and regulations. Once they get back to us, it will be a done deal.”

In conclusion, as we move to finalize this agreement, there is work to be done on both sides, the OTN and its partners need to reach out and build capacities amongst those who will become the key actors in a trade agreement. The government of Canada has a responsibility to work with existing national and provincial trade organizations to get them actively engage in trade and investments dialogue on the Caribbean Commonwealth.

This begs the question. Will the remnants of CRNM remain in Barbados after the CaribCan Trade Agreement is signed or will it be fully integrated into the Secretariat? We will take a wait and see attitude.

Ian Francis resides in Toronto and writes frequently on Caribbean Commonwealth affairs. He is a former Assistant Secretary in the Grenada Ministry of Foreign Affairs and can be reached at info@vismincommunications.org

August 26, 2010

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