eurealist.co.uk

The Caribbean Export Development exists for the sole purpose of increasing exports out of the Caribbean, i.e. to increase its sales and its profits on the world market.

As I have mentioned before it does not seem to make sense for the EU to finance an organisation that

In a fair deal, Europe would fully open its markets to all exports without demanding reciprocation,

competes with EU businesses in the world market place. But that is exactly what has happened with a grant of more than $21 million from the European Commission.

Not that the Caribbean Export executive director Philip Williams was over enthused at the grant; he said that contribution, as well those coming from the annual contributions of CARIFORUM’s 15-member states, are not sufficient.

The European Union is by far the leading donor of grants to the Caribbean from 1976 to 2001 the EU donated EUR 2 323 million with financing for the same period from the EIB totalling EUR 854 million.

It is obvious that donating money to support the development of a competitor is self defeating, so there must be another reason why the EU is happy to use our money to work against our interests, and this being the EU this is all about developing a power for the EU.

There are suggestions that the that the CARIFORUM Group - Caribbean Community (Caricom) states and the Dominican Republic - were forced into the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) reached last December and that the negotiations were designed to split the ACP Group.

Mouhamet Lamine Ndiaye, Oxfam’s Pan-Africa head of economic justice, said: “Our analysis shows that these deals have strayed far from the development template they were supposed to follow. The cost will be enormous: annual losses from tariff cuts of $360 million for Africa alone, and a further $79 billion for compliance for all the countries involved. Not to mention the loss of independent trade policy,”
“Furthermore, developing countries have been granted very limited scope to retain any protection and they have had to use it for agricultural products on which the EU still pays big trade distorting subsidies”.

In a fair deal, Europe would fully open its markets to all exports without demanding reciprocation,” added Ndaiye. “It would give developing countries the policy freedom to govern in the public interest and pursue regional integration on their own terms. And it would assist these countries to become more competitive, generate decent jobs and access new technologies.”