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Is T&T, Jamaica 'patties row' over?
Andy Johnson Georgetown
Sunday, July 5th 2009
HONOURED: Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo, left, presents Jamaica's former prime minister PJ Patterson with the Order of the Community, Caricom's highest award during the ceremonial opening of the 30th Heads of Government conference at the National Cultural Centre in Guyana on Thursday. -Photo: Courtesy Starbroek News
BY virtue of the comments he made on the Business Breakfast inside the TV6 Morning Edition last Monday, Trade and Industry Minister Mariano Browne suggesting that the "patties row" between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago had been ended.
But in his own comments to reporters here Friday Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding suggested otherwise.
It was "absurd" he said, that the European Union had accepted Jamaica's standards and no longer needed to inspect its facilities, given the fact that the validation provided by Jamaica's bureau of standards and its veterinary services was accepted.
"Yet our own Caricom partners don't accept the certification so there is a lot of work to be done," he added.
As a direct response to the Trinidad and Tobago position here yesterday was to point to statements in the Jamaican press which reported on the concerns being raised by health officials there about sanitary conditions at meat processing facilities.
One story in the Jamaica Observer reported on the revelations by Agriculture Minister Christopher Tofton, about a study which said more than half of the existing 1,100 abattoirs operating in Jamaica were being run illegally.
"What are we going to do with 1,000 slaughterhouses?" Tofton asked, "and how do we know what gets slaughtered?"
He said the government's own plan was to centralise the operations of abattoirs and make them subject to the inspection of veterinary officials, "to check not only on the health of the animals, but to allow for traceability of livestock".
Speaking during the TV6 interview Monday, Minister Browne said this was at the heart of the concerns from Trinidad and Tobago's trade officials, which led the demand for inspection of the facilities in Jamaica, associated with the company which wanted to export patties to this country.
He said, however, it was an issue that ought not to have escalated to the level of a trade row, and this was why the government was reluctant to get involved.
But speaking with the Sunday Express yesterday, he remained firm about holding this line, in the fact of Golding's comments.
Browne is a member of the Trinidad and Tobago delegation at the summit, along with Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon. They constitute the ministerial component of the team, supporting the Prime Minister as head of the delegation.
The Jamaican Prime Minister went further on Friday, saying he was receiving suggestions from manufacturers and exporters "who have said that we can't be bothered with Caricom because it's too much headache so we are looking to North America or Brazil or Colombia".
He said the exporters were prepared to pay duties in other markets, rather than "take on the burden to try to get through the difficulties in Caricom".
Browne insisted also that the position being taken in Port of Spain was consistent with obligations assumed under relevant Caricom trading arrangements.
Asked also about the Golding comments after his brief comments during the lunch-break yesterday, Manning said the matter had been settled Friday night.
"There is nothing that reasonable people meeting together cannot find agreement on," he said.
Pushing for a late afternoon summit closing yesterday, in order to take up the offer of the host, Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo, for a day of relaxation at a resort island in the Essequibo River, the leaders were seeking to complete discussion on the critical approach to the international financial institutions, as the basis for its programme to manage the impact of the global financial and economic crisis.
A separate declaration on this issue was also scheduled, on the basis of the discussions on the matter. A similar separate declaration was issued yesterday however, on the issue of climate change and its impact on the region.
The leaders are also working towards agreement on a definitive position on this matter, to be tabled at a world conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.
"We affirm our belief," that declaration opens by saying, "that the sharing of the cost of addressing climate change should be equitable, should not perpetuate poverty, and should be compatible with accelerated development."
A common approach to address what the leaders see as "the threats and challenges" of climate change and of the region's effective participation at the Copenhagen meeting was important, the declaration said.
It listed four specific goals formulated by the combined efforts of several regional bodies working on the issue, to which the summit has pledged its support. These are outlined as:
The stabilisation of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at a specified level of carbon dioxide emission; global average surface temperature increase to be limited to 1.5 degree centigrade above pre-industrial levels; greenhouse gas emissions should peak by 2015 and global carbon dioxide reductions of 85 per cent or more should be required by 2050.
This declaration ends with a statement of commitment from the leaders for a comprehensive programme of public education and awareness, towards the promotion of a better understanding of climate change and its impacts and in addressing adaption and mitigation.
On this score the leaders say that effective action requires the active participation of the region's peoples.
While two representatives of the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce submitted a position paper to the heads and were present at the summit for consultations, there was no sign of representatives from the Caribbean Congress of Labour, the other major social partner organisation which had previously been accorded similar summit audiences.
But in a development seen here as striking, Guyana's Trade Union Congress aligned with a group of four minority parties here to issue a statement, as an Open Letter to the Caricom Heads of Government.
The statement outlined what its authors referred to as an absence of hope among the Guyanese people, illustrated by the continued massive out-migration and unfavourable social and economic conditions.
"Guyana is a society in the process of disintegration. Lawlessness stalks the land, Rape and murder of women and girls are on the rise. Guyana is not alone in the region with the growth of violent gun crimes, including extra-judicial murder by elements of the security forces and by private armies of drug lords, protected and cosseted by sections of the state. Well documented instances of torture by elements of the army and police are dismissed as 'roughing up'," the statement said.
Carried in the Stabroek News, Guyana's paper of record, the statement was co-authored by the Alliance for Change, GAP-ROAR, Working People's Alliance Unity Party and the TUC.
Saying that the hopes of the Guyanese people had been placed in the Herdmanston Accord and the St Lucia statement-both aiming at promoting political collaboration towards social and economic stability through the involvement of Caricom leaders-the statement said those hopes had been dashed.
"After a full decade the promise the Heads of Government to remain engaged with our reconciliation process has been unfulfilled. Guyana continues to hemorrhage. Many Guyanese feel betrayed by the process," it said.
Manning was expected to return home this morning, while several others were heading out late yesterday.
Andy Johnson Georgetown
Sunday, July 5th 2009
HONOURED: Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo, left, presents Jamaica's former prime minister PJ Patterson with the Order of the Community, Caricom's highest award during the ceremonial opening of the 30th Heads of Government conference at the National Cultural Centre in Guyana on Thursday. -Photo: Courtesy Starbroek News BY virtue of the comments he made on the Business Breakfast inside the TV6 Morning Edition last Monday, Trade and Industry Minister Mariano Browne suggesting that the "patties row" between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago had been ended.
But in his own comments to reporters here Friday Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding suggested otherwise.
It was "absurd" he said, that the European Union had accepted Jamaica's standards and no longer needed to inspect its facilities, given the fact that the validation provided by Jamaica's bureau of standards and its veterinary services was accepted.
"Yet our own Caricom partners don't accept the certification so there is a lot of work to be done," he added.
As a direct response to the Trinidad and Tobago position here yesterday was to point to statements in the Jamaican press which reported on the concerns being raised by health officials there about sanitary conditions at meat processing facilities.
One story in the Jamaica Observer reported on the revelations by Agriculture Minister Christopher Tofton, about a study which said more than half of the existing 1,100 abattoirs operating in Jamaica were being run illegally.
"What are we going to do with 1,000 slaughterhouses?" Tofton asked, "and how do we know what gets slaughtered?"
He said the government's own plan was to centralise the operations of abattoirs and make them subject to the inspection of veterinary officials, "to check not only on the health of the animals, but to allow for traceability of livestock".
Speaking during the TV6 interview Monday, Minister Browne said this was at the heart of the concerns from Trinidad and Tobago's trade officials, which led the demand for inspection of the facilities in Jamaica, associated with the company which wanted to export patties to this country.
He said, however, it was an issue that ought not to have escalated to the level of a trade row, and this was why the government was reluctant to get involved.
But speaking with the Sunday Express yesterday, he remained firm about holding this line, in the fact of Golding's comments.
Browne is a member of the Trinidad and Tobago delegation at the summit, along with Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon. They constitute the ministerial component of the team, supporting the Prime Minister as head of the delegation.
The Jamaican Prime Minister went further on Friday, saying he was receiving suggestions from manufacturers and exporters "who have said that we can't be bothered with Caricom because it's too much headache so we are looking to North America or Brazil or Colombia".
He said the exporters were prepared to pay duties in other markets, rather than "take on the burden to try to get through the difficulties in Caricom".
Browne insisted also that the position being taken in Port of Spain was consistent with obligations assumed under relevant Caricom trading arrangements.
Asked also about the Golding comments after his brief comments during the lunch-break yesterday, Manning said the matter had been settled Friday night.
"There is nothing that reasonable people meeting together cannot find agreement on," he said.
Pushing for a late afternoon summit closing yesterday, in order to take up the offer of the host, Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo, for a day of relaxation at a resort island in the Essequibo River, the leaders were seeking to complete discussion on the critical approach to the international financial institutions, as the basis for its programme to manage the impact of the global financial and economic crisis.
A separate declaration on this issue was also scheduled, on the basis of the discussions on the matter. A similar separate declaration was issued yesterday however, on the issue of climate change and its impact on the region.
The leaders are also working towards agreement on a definitive position on this matter, to be tabled at a world conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.
"We affirm our belief," that declaration opens by saying, "that the sharing of the cost of addressing climate change should be equitable, should not perpetuate poverty, and should be compatible with accelerated development."
A common approach to address what the leaders see as "the threats and challenges" of climate change and of the region's effective participation at the Copenhagen meeting was important, the declaration said.
It listed four specific goals formulated by the combined efforts of several regional bodies working on the issue, to which the summit has pledged its support. These are outlined as:
The stabilisation of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at a specified level of carbon dioxide emission; global average surface temperature increase to be limited to 1.5 degree centigrade above pre-industrial levels; greenhouse gas emissions should peak by 2015 and global carbon dioxide reductions of 85 per cent or more should be required by 2050.
This declaration ends with a statement of commitment from the leaders for a comprehensive programme of public education and awareness, towards the promotion of a better understanding of climate change and its impacts and in addressing adaption and mitigation.
On this score the leaders say that effective action requires the active participation of the region's peoples.
While two representatives of the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce submitted a position paper to the heads and were present at the summit for consultations, there was no sign of representatives from the Caribbean Congress of Labour, the other major social partner organisation which had previously been accorded similar summit audiences.
But in a development seen here as striking, Guyana's Trade Union Congress aligned with a group of four minority parties here to issue a statement, as an Open Letter to the Caricom Heads of Government.
The statement outlined what its authors referred to as an absence of hope among the Guyanese people, illustrated by the continued massive out-migration and unfavourable social and economic conditions.
"Guyana is a society in the process of disintegration. Lawlessness stalks the land, Rape and murder of women and girls are on the rise. Guyana is not alone in the region with the growth of violent gun crimes, including extra-judicial murder by elements of the security forces and by private armies of drug lords, protected and cosseted by sections of the state. Well documented instances of torture by elements of the army and police are dismissed as 'roughing up'," the statement said.
Carried in the Stabroek News, Guyana's paper of record, the statement was co-authored by the Alliance for Change, GAP-ROAR, Working People's Alliance Unity Party and the TUC.
Saying that the hopes of the Guyanese people had been placed in the Herdmanston Accord and the St Lucia statement-both aiming at promoting political collaboration towards social and economic stability through the involvement of Caricom leaders-the statement said those hopes had been dashed.
"After a full decade the promise the Heads of Government to remain engaged with our reconciliation process has been unfulfilled. Guyana continues to hemorrhage. Many Guyanese feel betrayed by the process," it said.
Manning was expected to return home this morning, while several others were heading out late yesterday.
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