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JLP serious about suspending relations with Caricom — Holness
BY BALFORD HENRY Senior staff reporter balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, July 11, 2013
OPPOSITION Leader Andrew Holness says that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) believes that Jamaica should consider suspending its relationship with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) until it sorts out current issues with the regional body.
"There could be a suspension until we get our house in order, so that we can participate on equal footing with everyone," Holness told the Jamaica Observer at this week's Monday Exchange.
HOLNESS... we believe that a weak Jamaica does not make a strong Caricom (PHOTO: NAPHTALI JUNIOR)
The Opposition leader, who was echoing the point made by his party's spokesman on foreign affairs and foreign trade, Dr Christopher Tufton at a Kingston Lion's Club meeting last week, said that it was an indication of the party's consistency on the position.
"We do not believe that Jamaica's interests are necessarily being fully served by Caricom, and that's not a statement from which we hide: We have made that statement before," Holness said defiantly, as he spoke to the editors and reporters on his party's 70th anniversary at the Observer's Beechwood Avenue office in Kingston.
"We believe that a weak Jamaica does not make a strong Caricom; so, for Caricom to be strong, Jamaica has to be strong, and if it is that Jamaica is not being served by the relationship, then we need to examine it," Holness said.
Senior spokesmen for the JLP have been promoting the idea of Jamaica temporarily pulling out of Caricom to rethink its relationship with the regional body, for several months now. The call was first made by the party's spokesman on industry, commerce and energy, Gregory Mair; then its spokesman on transport and works, Karl Samuda; and more recently by Dr Tufton, who said that Jamaica's best bet in dealing with Caricom trading issues would be a temporary withdrawal.
"This period would also be sufficient for a comprehensive examination to be done, to determine if Jamaica should leave Caricom in its current form and, instead, seek functional collaboration on matters of strategic, regional and international importance," Dr Tufton said.
But, Holness went further on Monday, identifying the Common External Tariff (CET) as one of the land mines on the path to a more co-operative attitude towards the regional body.
He said that the rush in the 1990s to create the tariff has not necessarily benefited Jamaica.
"We have not been opposed to the creation of a common market, but we want to see a situation in which Jamaica benefits, and I have said that we are a Jamaica first party: Jamaica's interests first, and that needs to be looked at," the Opposition leader argued.
Holness also suggested that a widened area of trade co-operation, including closer ties with Latin American countries like Colombia and Venezuela, was envisaged by his party.
He noted that Jamaica already has strong economic links with Venezuela, primarily through the PetroCaribe oil agreement, while pointing out that Jamaica could benefit immensely from improving its trade with Colombia, as well as Panama.
"We share an economic zone which can be mutually exploited, and Colombia is transforming itself in an amazing way. I think we need to strengthen these relationships," he said, noting that Jamaica also has significant heritage ties with its Latin neighbours, including Colombia, Panama and Cuba.
He said that the US embargo against Cuba cannot remain in perpetuity, and once the Cuba economy is released from those shackles there will significant investment shifts in the region.
"We don't want to appear anti-Caricom, but for Jamaica to advance, we have to look elsewhere. We have to be prepared not to become a consequence of this investment shift, but to be a beneficiary," Holness said.
JLP serious about suspending relations with Caricom — Holness
BY BALFORD HENRY Senior staff reporter balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, July 11, 2013
OPPOSITION Leader Andrew Holness says that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) believes that Jamaica should consider suspending its relationship with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) until it sorts out current issues with the regional body.
"There could be a suspension until we get our house in order, so that we can participate on equal footing with everyone," Holness told the Jamaica Observer at this week's Monday Exchange.
HOLNESS... we believe that a weak Jamaica does not make a strong Caricom (PHOTO: NAPHTALI JUNIOR)
The Opposition leader, who was echoing the point made by his party's spokesman on foreign affairs and foreign trade, Dr Christopher Tufton at a Kingston Lion's Club meeting last week, said that it was an indication of the party's consistency on the position.
"We do not believe that Jamaica's interests are necessarily being fully served by Caricom, and that's not a statement from which we hide: We have made that statement before," Holness said defiantly, as he spoke to the editors and reporters on his party's 70th anniversary at the Observer's Beechwood Avenue office in Kingston.
"We believe that a weak Jamaica does not make a strong Caricom; so, for Caricom to be strong, Jamaica has to be strong, and if it is that Jamaica is not being served by the relationship, then we need to examine it," Holness said.
Senior spokesmen for the JLP have been promoting the idea of Jamaica temporarily pulling out of Caricom to rethink its relationship with the regional body, for several months now. The call was first made by the party's spokesman on industry, commerce and energy, Gregory Mair; then its spokesman on transport and works, Karl Samuda; and more recently by Dr Tufton, who said that Jamaica's best bet in dealing with Caricom trading issues would be a temporary withdrawal.
"This period would also be sufficient for a comprehensive examination to be done, to determine if Jamaica should leave Caricom in its current form and, instead, seek functional collaboration on matters of strategic, regional and international importance," Dr Tufton said.
But, Holness went further on Monday, identifying the Common External Tariff (CET) as one of the land mines on the path to a more co-operative attitude towards the regional body.
He said that the rush in the 1990s to create the tariff has not necessarily benefited Jamaica.
"We have not been opposed to the creation of a common market, but we want to see a situation in which Jamaica benefits, and I have said that we are a Jamaica first party: Jamaica's interests first, and that needs to be looked at," the Opposition leader argued.
Holness also suggested that a widened area of trade co-operation, including closer ties with Latin American countries like Colombia and Venezuela, was envisaged by his party.
He noted that Jamaica already has strong economic links with Venezuela, primarily through the PetroCaribe oil agreement, while pointing out that Jamaica could benefit immensely from improving its trade with Colombia, as well as Panama.
"We share an economic zone which can be mutually exploited, and Colombia is transforming itself in an amazing way. I think we need to strengthen these relationships," he said, noting that Jamaica also has significant heritage ties with its Latin neighbours, including Colombia, Panama and Cuba.
He said that the US embargo against Cuba cannot remain in perpetuity, and once the Cuba economy is released from those shackles there will significant investment shifts in the region.
"We don't want to appear anti-Caricom, but for Jamaica to advance, we have to look elsewhere. We have to be prepared not to become a consequence of this investment shift, but to be a beneficiary," Holness said.
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