The OAS, Democracy and Free Trade

The OAS as an organization is synonymous with the struggle to promote, defend, and consolidate democracy in our hemisphere.

But, the role of the OAS has not been restricted to championing democracy. Other issues deemed crucial by member states. The matter of free trade is a case in point. And while the OAS has not been directly involved in the actual negotiations pertaining to the Free Trade Area of the Americas – except in the support role carried out by the Trade Unit – the importance of free trade is inescapable because of the far reaching and all encompassing changes it will bring about in all our countries.

If, as they say, it is inevitable, we will not just give in to the proverbial enjoyment, but must seek to ameliorate any potential disastrous effects it will bring about - particularly on small and vulnerable economies like that of my country. FREE TRADE must mean FAIR TRADE, and on this principle must the foundation be built; and the principle is an integral building block at every step of the negotiations leading to the FTAA.

Today, CARICOM countries are being unfairly accused of being unreasonable in the FTAA negotiations, admonished and accused of holding back the process and implicitly threatened that their “legitimate needs” may fail “to get a fair hearing because of perceptions that CARICOM was not engaging constructively in the negotiating process”.

There can never be fairness when strong nations seek to coerce weaker nations, and castigate them for the temerity to try to defend their legitimate interests – indeed - their very survival. You cannot resent us for fighting for our rightful seat on the free trade bus.

There cannot be fairness when small and vulnerable countries are being pressured to agree to unacceptable base rate tariffs and time frames for notifying these tariffs, while a veritable fortress of non-tariff barriers in the form of subsidies continues to be erected by the big and powerful. Some of these subsidies amount to fourteen times the GDP of some Caribbean countries.

And the problem is not with subsidies alone. In some CARICOM countries, current tariffs account for between twenty and up to forty percent of Government’s annual revenue. How can this be replaced? Where will Government find the needed revenue to build infrastructure and to provide basic social services such as education and health? Indeed, how can we survive ?

The OAS, the symbol of democracy in our hemisphere, needs to ensure that the principles embodied in the Charter of the organization, be the basis for the conformation of a true democracy of nations in this hemisphere. Free trade can only be fair, when it ensures that the weakest of the weak, and the smallest of the small, are not trampled and destroyed beneath the hooves of the big and powerful.

Barbados

June 4^th, 2000

Delegation of Belize

Delivered by Ambassador Lisa M. Shoman,

Permanent Representative of Belize to the OAS