ACS SUPPORTS CARIBBEAN CONVERGENCE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM — A MAJOR GOAL

Port Spain, October 25- The Association of Caribbean States (ACS) is standing solidly behind the new philosophy of Caribbean Convergence. This is the view expressed by Secretary General, Ambassador Alfonso Munera when he spoke to Business Day recently.

He said he believed the ACS “can play a very important role in Caribbean Convergence.” The Secretary General added, “I see it as a great tool that can assist in creating a strong partnership with CARICOM in terms of trade, investment and sustainable tourism.” He also saw close co-operation in the mitigation of natural disasters as well as working together in seeking to develop a strategy toward increasing connectivity from the perspectives of both air and sea.

Munera said that while ACS was committed to making Caribbean Convergence a reality, there were many complexities to overcome during that process. He said although there were many strong similarities between countries in the CARICOM grouping and those of Central America, “there are as well, differences in language and the sizes of the various countries”, so that in spite of the fact that the Caribbean was together, it was still separate.

The Secretary General said the ACS was created in 1994 on a CARICOM initiative whose main objective, even at that time, although not so named at that time, was aimed at Caribbean Convergence, with the idea being to expand the relationship between CARICOM States and those countries in Central America and even South America.

Munera identified some of those states as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, in the Greater Caribbean, Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico in Central America and Colombia and Venezuela in South America. It was only a few weeks ago that Trinidad and Tobago, through its Foreign Minister Winston Dookeran, inked a Partial Scope Trade Agreement (PSTA) allowing certain categories of Panamanian goods preferential tariffs in Trinidad and Tobago with reciprocal privileges for Trinidad and Tobago products in Panama. A similar agreement between Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago is just awaiting certification by CARICOM, while negotiations with El Salvador are set to begin soon.

But more than that, the Secretary General said his organisation was also looking at developing closer ties with the two major French Dependencies in the Caribbean – Martinique and Guadeloupe – which cannot be easily entered by residents or citizens from neighbouring island states. CARICOM nationals who wish to enter either of those two islands, are subjected to a bureaucratic nightmare of specific invitation, police records and other miscellaneous documentation.

Following a meeting in last week the French authorities on the islands revealed that efforts were being made ease up the entry process. This was followed by the Governor of the United States Virgin Islands pledging to push for legislation which would waive the US Visa requirement to enter that territory, making it easier on CARICOM citizens who wish to visit the thousands of friends and relatives who live on St Thomas, St Croix or St John.

Should the entry requirements to these island States be eased up it would chalk up another plus for the idea of Caribbean Convergence.

Ambassador Munera admitted that although the ACS has and continues to face difficulties in carrying out its mission, “we have been able to accomplish some important tasks in the past few years” and he attributed that a lot of the now revitalised association had come directly from the Fifth Summit of the Heads of State and/or government of the States, Countries and Territories of the Association of Caribbean States held in Haiti last April.

“At the Summit we were able to put together the ‘Declaration of Petion Ville’, when the Heads agreed to work towards development in trade, sports, sustainable tourism and an education and culture initiative to promote greater co-operation,” added Munera.

Expanding on the need for the development of sustainable tourism in member States, Munera revealed that a strategy would soon be put in place for training in tourism, “all aspects of tourism” he added and said that funding had already been pledged for the programme.

Stressing on the need to develop and expand air connectivity in the region, Munera said that it was on an initiative of the ACS that Cope Airlines began operating services to Trinidad and Tobago, through the Air Transport Agreement (ATA). He said more airlines must come into the picture if this idea of increased connectivity is to take flight and he mentioned LIAT and Suriname Airways as possible players in this increased connectivity.

Munera said that a special meeting is being convened in Mexico next month to deal specifically with connectivity in the Caribbean, which is a mandate from the Summit’s Plan of Action, which sees the necessity to continue to promote the implementation and update of the ATA to meet the need of a general aviation policy for the Greater Caribbean, establishing a legal and co-operation framework that would offer more air service options with the attendant reduction in costs, more routes, more carriers and improved services, while ensuring the highest levels of operating security and safety for international civil aviation.

On the maritime side, the Secretary General spoke about a Port and Maritime Strategy for the Greater Caribbean, which is aimed at creating a strategic plan for maritime port development of the Greater Caribbean, which would allow for the establishment of an order or priority of the actions to be developed to encourage a competitive maritime sector and one that is capable of satisfying the foreign trade needs of the Greater Caribbean.

He said this project, as outlined in the Declaration, would include strategic proposals to promote and develop port infrastructure that could effectively sustain the increase in traffic that is expected to result from the expansion of the Panama Canal in 2014.

The Port and Maritime Strategy of the Greater Caribbean would be executed jointly by the Centro-American Commission of Maritime Transport (COCATRAM), the Cuban Ministry of Transport (MITRANS), the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP), the Jamaica Ministry of Transport and Works (Port Authority of Jamaica) and the National Maritime Authority of Colombia.

The Secretary General also revealed that moves were afoot to revive the Caribbean Sea Commission, one of the central projects of the association to make the sea a protected area and to be able to co-ordinate efforts to protect the Caribbean Sea and to assist in co-ordinating the disparate exercises which take place in these waters. He said an International consultant, with international connections, would soon be on board to manage these various projects.

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