CASTRIES, St. Lucia – Caribbean hotelier and graduate economist Allen Chastanet is standing by his statement that the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) offers nothing for the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). He made the statement in his customary forthright manner at the annual awards ceremony of the Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association this weekend.
Responding to a statement issued by Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt this afternoon, which attempted to dismiss Chastanet’s claims, the St. Lucian hotelier suggested that Mr. Skerritt should, instead, lead efforts to strengthen the OECS, before defending the CSME giant which, he says, in its current form will engulf Eastern Caribbean countries, including Dominica.
“We need to strengthen our existing organization, not to join new ones and burden the Eastern Caribbean tax-payers even more,” he said, pointing out that the sub-regional grouping was already a huge financial burden to its Eastern Caribbean members.
“We pump money into these ‘regional institutions’, yet when attending international meetings, we send separate delegations, burning precious resources. Can’t our little territories speak with one voice?” asked the St. Lucian businessman, the president of the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association.
“We talk about integration, yet we have numerous duplicating ministries overseeing an OECS population of only 550,000 people. If we continue to mismanage our nations like this, we will not be taken seriously,” said Chastanet, who reminded regional leaders that true integration means making tough decisions.
Chastanet went on to challenge the Prime Minister’s assertion that “there is a determination on the part of Caribbean leaders and the people of the Caribbean to move ahead with the integration process,” when there has been no referendum on the CSME in the region. “The people of the region should have been engaged before moving ahead,” he underscored.
He added that a common currency was a prerequisite for true integration. “The OECS has its own currency but CARICOM does not,” said Chastanet, who lamented that a regional consensus could not even be reached by our leaders to earn millions of dollars from the billion dollar cruise industry. “We are not serious,” said Chastanet, who cited examples such as the University of the West Indies and the West Indies Cricket Team as ample inspiration for OECS nations to meaningfully integrate within the sub-region.
Chastanet dismissed the suggestion of a negative attitude within the OECS towards Trinidad and Tobago. “I have not criticised the government and people of Trinidad and Tobago. The twin-island republic benefits tremendously from its trade surplus with the OECS and any help we receive from our Caribbean cousins will help them. But to subject the OECS manufacturing and trade sectors to a greater onslaught of products from bigger economies with lower costs of production, will need some dutiful examination. I truly believe that there would be substantially more benefits by fully integrating the OECS.”
