[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 6, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1218-E1219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       URGING MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO SUPPORT CARICOM SUMMIT TALKS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 6, 2007

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to enter into the Record an 
opinion editorial published in the CaribNews newspaper the week of May 
17, 2007 titled ``Caribbean Aims to Cash in on Face Time with Bush''. 
This article expresses the importance of the CARICOM Summit meetings to 
be held in Washington, D.C. from June 19-21, 2007.
  The heads of states of the 15 nations that comprise the Caribbean 
Community (CARICOM) will be in Washington meeting with the 
Administration, as well as members of Congress. During their meetings 
in Washington, they wish to discuss U.S.-Caribbean trade relations, 
cooperation in education and security initiatives, immigration, 
disaster preparedness and mitigation, and other issues arising from our 
important relationships with our Southern neighbors.
  A Summit of this magnitude and with the full leadership of CARICOM 
represents the first of its kind under the Bush Administration. I 
commend the Administration's initiative in establishing stronger and 
more consistent relationships with island states whose strategic 
importance has been recognized by their designation by former Secretary 
of State Colin Powell as our ``third border.''
  This Summit comes at an important time for the American people as we 
celebrate the contribution of millions of Caribbean-Americans during 
Caribbean American Heritage Month. It is estimated that over 2.6 
million Caribbean-Americans currently live in the United States. People 
from the Caribbean have contributed to the building of this great 
nation as the earliest and largest source of Black immigrants to the 
U.S.
  It is important to recognize the Caribbean as strategically 
significant to the U.S. in terms of security, international trade, and 
education initiatives. Members of CARICOM serve as crossroads for major 
air and sea routes between North America, Africa, Europe and Asia. It 
is in our country's national security interests to make certain that 
the issues of poverty, illiteracy and HIV/AIDS in the region are 
addressed.
  An unprecedented threat to the economic and social development of the 
Caribbean Community is HIV/AIDS. With a rate of 1.2 percent in 2006, 
Caribbean nations are second only to sub-Saharan Africa in adult HIV/
AIDS prevalence. AIDS is one of the leading causes of death among 
adults aged 15-44 in the Caribbean, which threatens the Community's 
ability to achieve sustainable development. Migration from the 
Caribbean can contribute to the risk of HIV in the U.S., as 
acknowledged in USAID Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the 
Caribbean Adolfo Franco's testimony in 2005, citing statistics that 
Caribbean immigrants account for 46 percent of all immigrants testing 
HIV positive in New York City. High mobility in the region necessitates 
a regional approach in combating the epidemic. By supporting 
legislation that will include all the CARICOM nations in the 
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), we can expand our 
reach in fighting HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean and at home.
  Although CARICOM countries receive preferential trade treatment under 
agreements such as the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), CARICOM views 
its existing trading arrangements with the U.S. as no longer adequate. 
The CBI preferences are set to expire in October 2008, which could 
jeopardize an annual $8 billion worth of trade. The current CBI also 
includes only eight of the 15 countries that comprise CARICOM, further 
emphasizing the need to establish a new trading relationship. Serving 
as a backdrop to the Summit this month is the establishment of a 
CARICOM Single Market in 2006 and plans for full economic integration 
in 2008. In terms of trade with the U.S., the CARICOM Single Market and 
Economy (CSME) serves as an opportunity to strengthen ties and better 
prepare the region for a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the United 
States.
  In addition to U.S.-Caribbean trade revisions, there is also a need 
to create a framework to manage the negative impact of the deportation 
process on the CARICOM nations. Caribbean governments assert that 
rising crime rates in some Caribbean nations can be attributed in part 
to the large number of criminal deportees they receive from the United 
States, with over 5,000 being sent from the U.S. to the Caribbean 
between October 2005 and October 2006. High rates of crime and violence 
in the Caribbean are undermining growth and investment, threatening 
human welfare, and impeding social development.
  Our national security is also threatened by a failure to manage the 
deportation process. When deportees are sent to the Caribbean--many of 
whom acquire assets and connections in the United States--they are 
often sent empty-handed without a family support network in the 
Caribbean. This situation breeds poverty among deportees, which can 
make weak States vulnerable to terrorist networks and drug cartels 
within their borders. According to the World Bank, murder rates in the 
Caribbean are higher than in any other region of the world, and assault 
rates are significantly above the world average. These challenges 
compounded by narcotics trafficking, which is at the core of these high 
rates, transcend national boundaries, threaten America's national 
security, and require a coordinated regional response.

[[Page E1219]]

  As Members of Congress, we have a significant opportunity to respond 
to the economic and political challenges facing the nations of the 
Caribbean, by encouraging educational exchange programs, promoting 
trade and supporting legislation that provides funding to address the 
HIV/AIDS situation in the region.
  The issues I outlined today provide the foundation for a rich 
dialogue between the U.S. and the Caribbean Heads of State. I encourage 
my colleagues in Congress to play a significant role in fostering a 
mutually beneficial relationship with our friends of the Caribbean 
Community by supporting and participating in the CARlCOM events that 
will be taking place on the Hill from June 19 through June 21.

            Caribbean Aims To Cash In on Face Time With Bush


                              (georgetown)

       On Jun. 20, Caribbean leaders will sit down with George W. 
     Bush for the first full summit meeting with a U.S. President 
     in a decade, and from all indications, they have a plethora 
     of issues to put on the table, chief among them trade and 
     disaster preparedness.
       Since Democratic President Bill Clinton flew to the eastern 
     Caribbean island of Barbados for a day in May 1997, the two 
     sides have not met for any length of time at the Heads of 
     Government or state level, though they have formalized annual 
     and sometimes twice yearly meetings with secretaries of state 
     and other high-level officials.
       Analysts say the June summit comes at a time of serious 
     anxieties for the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM), 10 
     of which form a free trade bloc that has functioned smoothly 
     over the years save for the odd row over some members' 
     protectionist policies. High-ranking CARICOM officials like 
     Assistant Secretary-General Colin Granderson and others agree 
     that the region would be remiss if leaders do not jump at the 
     chance of reinforcing their geopolitical importance to the 
     United States, being right in its backyard.
       For one thing, the Ronald Reagan era Caribbean Basin 
     Initiative and its offshoot, the Caribbean Basin Economic 
     Recovery Act, governing trade with the U.S., are now subject 
     to annual unanimous approvals by each member of the World 
     Trade Organization (WTO), a development Governments say makes 
     them feel very insecure. Washington has also expressed its 
     discomfort with the fact that it has to ask every single 
     country to say yes to renewing the preferential trade deal, 
     which expires in two years.
       Caribbean leaders and foreign ministers argue that trade 
     worth an annual average of eight billion dollars is operating 
     at the whims of WTO members and should have some formal, more 
     structured cover.
       They are considering asking Washington to negotiate and 
     sign a U.S.-Caribbean free trade agreement, since it has 
     become clear that efforts to forge a hemispheric umbrella 
     agreement have collapsed under the weight of objections from 
     regional Latin American powerhouses like Brazil and 
     Venezuela, among others.
       The region's Central American neighbors have already 
     negotiated their own deal with the U.S., but a definitive 
     position on the Caribbean may well emerge in the days leading 
     up to the summit.

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