NEW YORK, United States (CMC):
THE GUYANESE-BORN leader of the British House of Lords says that Britain will continue to press the European Union (EU) to ensure that "good transitional arrangements" are made for the region's economies in light of the curtailment of preferential treatment for bananas and sugar on the European market.
Baroness Valerie Amos told CMC that these arrangements are evermore paramount given the "huge challenges" facing Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries.
"What we have sought to do is to persuade European Community partners about the importance of putting in place good transitional arrangements," she said. "This transitional period is very, very important, indeed, for these countries, and we will continue to press our European Union partners and the commission to make sure the right kind of transitional arrangements are in place, because I know how important that is for Caribbean countries."
CONFIDENT OF SUCCESS
Baroness Amos said she is confident that the Tony Blair administration will succeed in its efforts, adding: "I'm an optimist, not a pessimist, and what we have to do is to continue to do our very best."
She said that while she does not envisage serious social and economic dislocation in the region as a result of the EU stance on sugar and bananas, she welcomed more "effective and efficient" disbursement of European Stabilisation Funds to the region.
But Baroness Amos said the British Government's immediate priority is to support CARICOM countries to "get their action plans right so they can source the transitional money currently available from the European Commission."
PERSONAL LOBBYING
Her comments came as the CARICOM Secretariat announced on the weekend that several regional leaders and officials would shortly begin personal lobbies to European capitals in an effort to ameliorate the plight of the region's banana and sugar industries.
Last week, St. Vincent and the Grenadines' Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said he would be among regional leaders and officials on missions to Europe.
Gonsalves told CMC that he was very dissatisfied with the banana quota for the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region on the European market, hoping that personal visits would help mitigate the hard stance by some European leaders and officials on the issue.
Under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, Caribbean banana producers have to accept 176 euros per ton on Latin American bananas, which they consider to be too low, Gonsalves said.
ADMINISTER QUOTA
But he said the salient issue is how to administer a 775,000-ton quota for ACP countries.
The Vincentian leader said it is abstruse whether Windward Islands and Jamaica banana licences will still be applied to the new quota, or a mixture of licences and "first-come-first served."
He said the licences will help the region but "first-come-first-served" will create more difficulties because there are more ACP bananas than the 775,000-ton quota.
The ACP countries produce 960,000 tons of bananas.
