opinion

The Greater Caribbean This Week

The Lima Summit
by Watson R. Denis, PhD

The decade of the 1990s was strongly marked by globalization, which was seen as the triumph of neoliberalism ideology, and United States hegemony in international affairs. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was then considered the manifest expression of this globalization.

However globalization did not go in a one way. It provoked the most diverse reactions, both for and against it. In that context, another vision emerged: take advantage of its beneficial effects to ensure survival. Indeed, one of the manifestations of globalization has been the regional grouping or the multilateralism. For example, the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) was born during that period, with the declared objectives of functional cooperation in the Greater Caribbean.

Similarly, at the end of the 1990s, the Summit of Heads of State and Government of Latin America, the Caribbean and of the European Union (EU-LAC) was established. Starting in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 1999, the initiative still continues with the most recent summit in Lima. The leaders of Latin American, Caribbean and European countries embarked on this enterprise under the label of a “strategic alliance.” This alliance is built on three pillars that are intrinsically linked: strengthening political dialogue, cooperation and trade liberalization. Today, this alliance has become a permanent mechanism for political dialogue and intercontinental partnership. And the summit serves as a forum to define cooperation agendas, a space for political dialogue and consultation, discussion on issues of investment, trade and the reciprocal sharing of cultural, heritage and tourism assets.

After almost ten years of effort and consultation (from Rio to Lima, via Guadalajara and Vienna), the Lima Summit provided the opportunity to evaluate the results reached thus far and propose new approaches, through concrete cooperation and partnership agreements. In this regard, the strategic alliance has been strengthened, particularly with respect to the treatment of topics discussed and the political follow-up. Henceforth, the summit themes have been reduced to two, which must be thoroughly discussed. Additionally, a new element has been introduced, that declarations will be followed by action or implementation plans.

The theme of this year’s business forum is “Moving Forward Together: Greater Caribbean Visions for the Future,” which signifies that the countries of the Greater Caribbean --- the Island Caribbean and the Continental Caribbean --- must advance together in today’s ever-changing economic world, where it is necessary for national export strategies to be constantly redefined, since each country requires clear rules in order to avoid obstacles to trade expansion.

In this regard, the Lima Summit represented a change with the preceding summits. It was centered on two main themes: “Poverty; inequality; inclusion,” and “Sustainable development; environment; climate change; energy.” The summit’s agenda had a strong social and environmental focus: combating poverty and climate change.

In the context of international relations, these themes were closely linked to a number of objectives, which may be summarized as follows:

• To ensure that the economic growth reached in the various countries leads to equitable, sustainable and inclusive development or to an improvement in the living conditions of the most disadvantaged and marginalized populations

• To strengthen existing economic and trade relations between Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union by opening up new markets and creating new opportunities for trade and exchanges between the two continents

• To strengthen the strategic alliance between the two continents, initiated in 1999, by taking advantage of the benefits of globalization

Between May 13th and 17th, 2008, the Lima Summit brought together representatives from 60 American and European countries, including heads of states, ministers of foreign affairs and the environment, other statesmen, business entrepreneurs and high-ranking officials. Hemispheric, regional and sub-regional organizations, such as the OAS, the Andean Community (CAN), the South Common Market (MERCOSUR), the Central American Integration System (SICA), CARICOM, CARIFORUM and the ACS also participated. On that occasion, the chairman of the ACS Ministerial Council (the Republic of Haiti), convened a meeting of foreign affairs ministers of the organization to discuss the issue of climate change and adaptation in the Greater Caribbean.

Thus, the Lima Summit marked a new phase in Latin America, Caribbean and European Union relations, as evidenced by the Lima Declaration: “Addressing Our People’s Priorities Together.” The preamble to this text refers to “a new momentum to the process of building up our bi-regional strategic partnership.” In fact, that entire section of the text refers to that new vision, the strategic partnership and bi-regional integration.

The declaration also contains the Lima Agenda, which is a type of action plan based on the two summit themes. With respect to the first theme, the objectives to be fulfilled were defined and proposals were made based on concrete programs and projects geared toward economic growth with a large-scale distributive impact and citizen participation in state affairs.

Likewise, regarding the second theme, objectives were accompanied by a series of concrete policy measures to be implemented. As such, reference is made to bi-regional cooperation on climate change, energy and the strengthening of sustainable development. In this regard, it stated that the European Union Global Alliance on Climate Change is geared toward least developed countries, particularly small island developing states, including CARIFORUM member states.

Finally, this declaration makes mention of an EU-LAC Foundation to pursue the objectives of the strategic alliance. Will a permanent secretariat be achieved in the future? That’s the issue at stake. The next summit in 2010, in Spain, will provide the opportunity to evaluate the plans that will drive this new vision and, perhaps, develop them further.

Dr. Watson Denis is the Political Advisor of the Secretariat of the Association of Caribbean States. The opinions expressed are not necessarily the official views of the ACS. Comments and reactions can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org

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