RBSC

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Another MAJOR development

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Another MAJOR development

    2 of the 4 BRIC countries have deepened ties with us....I say we approach India and Russia as well.

    Brazil wants to become true CARICOM member Monday, 26 April 2010 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }Leaders of Brazil and CARICOM are meeting in the Brazilian capital Brasilia, to discuss how they can raise their relationship to another level.

    st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }CARICOM is aware that the burgeoning might of Brazil offers the region an opportunity for both economic and aid.

    In his address to the opening of the Brazil/CARICOM Summit, Luiz Inacio Da Silva, the Brazilian President, called on CARICOM countries to join Latin America in constructing what he called a new order of co-operation without external direction. He said Brazil which has observer status in CARICOM wants to become a true partner with the Community.
    He announced Brazil's decision to become a full member of thr Caribbean Development bank and to intensify co-operation with CARICOM in the areas of research and science and technology.
    Ahead of the Summit, the Brazilian government released figures showing remarkable growth in trade with the 15 member grouping.
    Trade rose from US$657 million in 2002 to US$5.2 billion last year, 85% of which is made up of exports from the South American giant, one of the four major bric emerging economies which also include Russia, India and China.
    Facilitating CARICOM's integration into the global market
    CARICOM wants to cut that massive deficit and Chairman, Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica, said the region's partnership with Brazil would help fuel trade between the bloc's members and other countries around the round.
    "This bridge will help make available a trade route which will further the efforts of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy which is intended to provide the spring board to facilitate CARICOM's integration into the hemispheric and global environment through more competitive production, thereby enhancing our trade relations," Mr. Skerrit said.
    One of the main issues of the Summit is the reconstruction of Haiti following January's devastating earthquake.
    Brazil has pledged US$300 million in support.
    (Source: The BBC Caribbean Service)

  • #2
    hmmmmmm....there is REAL (no pun intended) potential here!!!

    Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe. Thomas Paine

    Comment


    • #3
      Old Story....

      Originally posted by Gamma View Post
      hmmmmmm....there is REAL (no pun intended) potential here!!!
      Errr…. Let me see now….

      Didn’t many suggest similar things in late 1983 (actually, January 1, 1984) when the Caribbean Basin Initiative was launched?

      Didn’t many suggest similar things following that very promising 1989 CARICOM conference in Grenada when the Caribbean Single Market & Economy (CSME) was launched?

      Didn’t a few overly optimistic souls suggest something similar when CARIFORUM first started the trek (or seemed to) in 2005 towards becoming a reality?

      Didn’t many suggest similar things when the dictator Hugo Chavez first proclaimed his country’s preferential oil treatment of the region several years ago?

      Didn’t many suggest similar things prior to the signing of the European Partnership Agreement (EPA)?

      Didn’t many…. You know what, let me stop before optimistic but angry people with short memories on this message board begin cussing me out….

      Comment


      • #4
        perhaps, but it is suggested again and right now there is FAR more incentive on this side to follow through.

        not sure what you are saying though, are you saying nothing will come of it?

        Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe. Thomas Paine

        Comment


        • #5
          Didnt people also dismis Brazil as the perennial

          "Pais do futuro"???

          Look at them now! The future is unfurling as we speak.

          Comment


          • #6
            Why My Seeming Pessimism?

            Originally posted by Willi View Post
            Didnt people also dismis Brazil as the perennial

            "Pais do futuro"???

            Look at them now! The future is unfurling as we speak.
            Last month it was China’s possible benefit to Jamaica that was been bandied about here, despite the fact that Jamaica is not even the Caribbean country getting the most attention from that emerging superpower!

            Willi, after showing major economic promise in the early part of the twentieth century (if my memory is correct here, up to around the late 1940s), Brazil seemed to become “lost” in this early promise from the 1950s until around this first decade of the 21st century. Yes, the future is unfolding for Brazil now, which is precisely what was being said about Venezuela five years ago!

            Comment


            • #7
              Who was saying that about Venezuela 5 years ago??? Chavez is not a competent leader. He is a big mouth!

              One of my best friends in school way have in the mid 1990s was a Brazilian and we discussed precisely this. The germination of this Brazil was evident even back then!

              Anyway, for Jam, its the confluence of BOTH emerging states and their interest in Jamaica that shows promise...I will expound later offline. this is not a short term thing.

              BTW, which carib country is China showing more interest in???

              Comment


              • #8
                Historian, I don't think Venezuelas promise was ever at the level of what Brazil is shaping up to be .

                Brazil has become one of those markets that any international company MUST be focused on big time. They are too big and have too much growth potential to ignore.
                "‎It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men" - Frederick Douglass

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Willi View Post
                  2 of the 4 BRIC countries have deepened ties with us....I say we approach India and Russia as well.
                  I thought we (Caricom) was already fairly close to India? During the build-up to the 2007 cricket world cup I can remember India mooting increasing ties with the region and we are both in the Commonwealth (save Suriname which I think could qualify and Haiti which could probably qualify also but not as strongly as Suriname). Indians can visit most of Caricom without visas too I think (and don't feel anyway about the reverse situation, India applies visas on everybody including their friends like Afghanistan, Russia and Nepal).

                  Brazil wants to become true CARICOM member
                  Wouldn't that be nice? Then the freedom of movement could extend down to Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Rio.



                  He said Brazil which has observer status in CARICOM wants to become a true partner with the Community.
                  What a thing if Brazil became an associate member. I doubt they would become a full member though or really want to.

                  He announced Brazil's decision to become a full member of thr Caribbean Development bank and to intensify co-operation with CARICOM in the areas of research and science and technology.
                  That's excellent. It wouldn't really be cooperation in science and technology, more like out and out leadership because given the example Brazil has been setting for decades with it's own sugar industry it is quite depressing to see the extremely limited vision by all Caricom members for their own sugar industries.

                  Ahead of the Summit, the Brazilian government released figures showing remarkable growth in trade with the 15 member grouping.
                  Trade rose from US$657 million in 2002 to US$5.2 billion last year, 85% of which is made up of exports from the South American giant
                  The ironic thing is that if Brazil ever became a full member we would hear some gnashing of teeth over the unfair trade balance between Brazil and Jamaica (especially given the "unfair" subsidy Brazilian companies will have due to Brazil's oil and ethanol) and some warped calls for exiting Caricom or more specifically the single market to rectify the situation (as though exiting Caricom will do anything about the trade imbalance - Jamaica has trade imbalances with lots of countries that aren't even observers in Caricom) or for Brazil to provide it's oil and ethanol at domestic prices (totally forgetting that transporting the stuff costs money).


                  Brazil has pledged US$300 million in support. [to Haiti's reconstruction]
                  Yeah, Brazil has been involved with Haiti for some time now. Good to see they aren't going to slack off.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Historian View Post
                    Errr…. Let me see now….

                    Didn’t many suggest similar things in late 1983 (actually, January 1, 1984) when the Caribbean Basin Initiative was launched?

                    Didn’t many suggest similar things following that very promising 1989 CARICOM conference in Grenada when the Caribbean Single Market & Economy (CSME) was launched?

                    Didn’t a few overly optimistic souls suggest something similar when CARIFORUM first started the trek (or seemed to) in 2005 towards becoming a reality?

                    Didn’t many suggest similar things when the dictator Hugo Chavez first proclaimed his country’s preferential oil treatment of the region several years ago?

                    Didn’t many suggest similar things prior to the signing of the European Partnership Agreement (EPA)?

                    Didn’t many…. You know what, let me stop before optimistic but angry people with short memories on this message board begin cussing me out….

                    Well Historian, all those deals really did (and still do) have the potential for MASSIVE development, BUT our regional leaders really lack vision and drive. So they have enough vision/drive/sense/greed to sign on to these things or negotiate them but then it is like getting the agreement was the end result for them and not simply the "end of the beginning". For instance the Venezuelan PetroCaribe deal still has the potential to literally transform the region from Third World to First (and I'm talking Singapore-like conditions here) but the deal isn't being properly utilized so instead of investing the deferred payments for oil in things that will generate growth and lots of cash in the future, the region just tends to use it for budgetary support, fixing a few roads or some other minor things which help to keep the states waddling along or help to win an election or two in the near term.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I Fully Agree, But....

                      Originally posted by Islandman View Post
                      Historian, I don't think Venezuelas promise was ever at the level of what Brazil is shaping up to be .

                      Brazil has become one of those markets that any international company MUST be focused on big time. They are too big and have too much growth potential to ignore.
                      I fully agree with your comment here on the difference between Venezuela and Brazil, Islandman. My previous comment was certainly hasty and off base .

                      My problem, though, remains this: Is Jamaica’s government and private sector competent enough to benefit from Brazil’s promise? Forgive me if I don’t believe we are (in the same way that I refuse to believe that anything relevant takes place in UWI’s Economics classes).

                      But maybe it’s just me and my illusions of failure after so many adventurous ventures, from the Israeli promise of the 1980s to the undesirable CARICOM trade balance (let me use a euphemism: deficit) to the failure of Air Jamaica to the never-ending Trinidad takeover of our economy to…. But like I said, maybe these failures on the part of Jamaica’s economic decision makers are not a fact but rather, merely an illusion; that is, a figment of my tired brain .

                      By the way, it would be useful if we paid closer attention to what’s taking place in the wider Caribbean region as opposed to just Jamaica, because I can assure everyone that despite what some of us feel, Jamaica is NOT the island that is getting the greatest attention focus from China at this present time.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Agreed, but....

                        Originally posted by ReggaeMike View Post
                        Well Historian, all those deals really did (and still do) have the potential for MASSIVE development, BUT our regional leaders really lack vision and drive. So they have enough vision/drive/sense/greed to sign on to these things or negotiate them but then it is like getting the agreement was the end result for them and not simply the "end of the beginning". For instance the Venezuelan PetroCaribe deal still has the potential to literally transform the region from Third World to First (and I'm talking Singapore-like conditions here) but the deal isn't being properly utilized so instead of investing the deferred payments for oil in things that will generate growth and lots of cash in the future, the region just tends to use it for budgetary support, fixing a few roads or some other minor things which help to keep the states waddling along or help to win an election or two in the near term.
                        Agreed, Mike, but what makes the Brazil promise any different in the face of Caribbean lethargy and across-the-board incompetence? In fact, you have just illustrated in a very good way some of the reasons for my less-than-optimistic view.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Historian View Post
                          My problem, though, remains this: Is Jamaica’s government and private sector competent enough to benefit from Brazil’s promise? Forgive me if I don’t believe we are
                          Any reasonable person would have serious questions about that. Having access to a market is one thing, being competitive in that market is quite another.
                          "‎It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men" - Frederick Douglass

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Brazil agro output exceeded that of the USA a few years ago. That is massive.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Historian View Post
                              Agreed, Mike, but what makes the Brazil promise any different in the face of Caribbean lethargy and across-the-board incompetence? In fact, you have just illustrated in a very good way some of the reasons for my less-than-optimistic view.
                              Quite true, but I'm much happier that these deals are made so that those (few) entrepreneurial Jamaicans who wish to make use of them can do so. Heaven's knows what they would do without those deals now...probably rot on a corner.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X