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| Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding called on the OAS to focus on how it can help each member state to achieve the targets to provide the framework "that is not intimidating to investment and one that is facilitative rather than obstructive". (File photo) | |
KINGSTON, Jamaica, October 6, 2008 - Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding has warned that some Caribbean countries are in danger of being left behind because they do not have the capacity to take advantages of globalisation, and he has called on the Organisation of American States (OAS) to take a careful look at how best it can assist in rectifying this situation.
Mr Golding said that the hemispheric body could put more emphasis on helping member states with more technical assistance for institutional capacity-building, "so that we can become competitors in the new global race".
Speaking recently before the 32-member of Permanent Council of the OAS, he made reference to the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) which the region will sign with Europe, noting that while it offered significant opportunities, there were questions as to whether the region has the ability to seize those opportunities.
"One of the challenges we face in exploiting opportunities, not just in the EPA, but the broader framework of globalisation, is that we lack the capacity to penetrate the markets and to take advantage of these opportunities in terms of human resources, education and training," Prime Minister Golding said.
He called on the OAS to focus on how it can help each member state to achieve the targets to provide the framework "that is not intimidating to investment and one that is facilitative rather than obstructive".
"We cannot abide indefinitely where we as members of the OAS find ourselves in a situation in which we are unequally yoked. The OAS mandate cannot sit comfortably with a situation where, within our 32 countries, there are such deep pockets of poverty co-existing with such towering images of prosperity," Prime Minister Golding said.
"The OAS cannot be a sorting house where we matriculate countries into new exclusive clubs. The intention must be that we reduce as much as possible, the imbalances that exist and provide a better quality of life so that the region, the Americas as a whole, can become a central example of collective, collaborative action to ensure prosperity for everyone," he added.
OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said the organisation should build on its historical and cultural connections, rather than differences and create as many opportunities as possible to work and dialogue together.
He said through this approach, the OAS would find common solutions to its shared challenges, such as crime and violence, energy insecurity, vulnerability to natural disasters, trade and economic growth in this hemisphere.
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