[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 14697-14698]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    OP-ED SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH OF CARIBBEAN NATIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 10, 2008

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce an Opinion 
Editorial from the New York CaribNews that reflects support for the 
development of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) 
states. CaribNews is a New York based publication that serves as the 
voice of the Caribbean community.
  The editorial which was published on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 is 
entitled; ``The Diaspora And The Rolling Heads of State''. The author 
of the Op-Ed, Dr. Basil Wilson, recognizes the achievements made by 
CARICOM nations to improve trade relations within the region and 
globally. ``In 2008, CARICOM is to make further strides in the 
development of a single market economy''.
  Dr. Wilson also addresses the New York based Caribbean Diaspora as it 
relates to Caribbean economies. He explains; ``Billions of dollars 
(from the U.S.) are sent to the respective islands to help out family 
members, to expand existing homes, to start businesses, and to provide 
some of the basic necessities of life''.
  This piece acknowledges the economic achievements made by Caribbean 
nations, therefore contributing to the region's legitimacy as a viable 
trading partner. At the same time, Dr. Wilson encourages 
entrepreneurial leadership in the Caribbean to further stimulate 
economic growth.

                   [From the CaribNews, July 8, 2008]

              The Diaspora and the Rolling Heads of State

                         (By Dr. Basil Wilson)

       It was befitting to hold the meeting bringing together the 
     Caribbean community in New York and the Caribbean heads of 
     state at York College, City University of New York, where the 
     President of that institution, Marcia Keizs and the Provost 
     and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs have roots in 
     the Caribbean and a majority of the 6,000 student body are 
     either first or second generation Caribbean.
       As one of the Caribbean heads of state remarked, he had to 
     travel to New York to address an audience of Caribbean people 
     as the movement of Caribbean people within the region remains 
     limited with the exception of the students in higher 
     education moving among the Mona, Cave Hill and St. Augustine 
     campuses of the University of the West Indies. The Friday 
     evening meeting on June 20, 2008 was designed to facilitate 
     an intellectual exchange between leaders and non-leaders 
     about the Diaspora and the future of, CARICOM.
       The Diaspora community already plays a critical role in the 
     form of remittances. Billions of dollars are sent to the 
     respective islands to help out family members, to expand 
     existing homes, to start businesses, and to provide some of 
     the basic necessities of life. In many islands remittances 
     have been instrumental in reducing the percentage of people 
     living in poverty.
       The format of the exchange enabled designated heads of 
     state to address the audience and to allow the audience to 
     ask questions or to make comments. This kind of mass 
     questioning tends to attract to the open microphones speakers 
     who are long-winded and with wide ranging concerns that 
     invariably brings a certain incoherence to the discourse.
       The world economy has changed dramatically since the 
     initiation of CARICOM. In 2008, CARICOM is to make further 
     strides in the development of a single market economy. Even 
     within the units of CARICOM, there are no economies of scale. 
     There are opportunities for investment and for the pooling of 
     resources. The economist, Dr. Norman Girvan, has produced a 
     paper outlining the future for further economic expansion. 
     Trinidad and Tobago has emerged as the economic giant in the 
     region and is standing even taller as the price of oil soars 
     towards one hundred and fifty dollars per barrel. T and T is 
     overflowing with investment capital at the same time 
     nonexporting oil countries in the region are reeling from the 
     rapid rise in oil and food prices that are now the norm in 
     the world economy.
       CARICOM at the beginning of the year signed a trade 
     agreement with the European Union that opens those economies 
     to Caribbean products and European products to the Caribbean 
     region. CARICOM and CARIFORUM can no longer look inwards. It

[[Page 14698]]

     must look outwards either as a region or as independent 
     islands. There is the dire urgency to put together an export 
     oriented strategy to compete in the global economy of the 
     21st century.
       The crime calamity in the Caribbean basin is indeed an 
     outgrowth of the economic crisis and even though some sorely 
     needed initiatives will be able to strengthen the shaky 
     social order, long term stability will depend on the 
     strengthening of the export sector in relationship to the 
     world economy.
       The Caribbean entered the world economy as an exporter of 
     sugar with African slave labor. By the beginning of the 19th 
     century, sugar production in the old English colonies had 
     peaked and was unable to match the yield per acre of the new 
     sugar-cane fields in Cuba. In the post-emancipation years and 
     post-colonial interlude, the economies of the Caribbean 
     remained moribund, starved of British investment capital and 
     survived through the British protectionist system reserved 
     for primary producers of the colonial empire. That 
     arrangement created a condition of chronic surplus labor and 
     forced segments of the Caribbean labor force to seek their 
     fortunes elsewhere such as in the banana fields of Central 
     America, the sugar-cane fields of Cuba, the construction 
     complex of the Panama Canal, and the industrialized factories 
     in the United States at the advent of World War 1. In the 
     post-second world war, thousands fled the region to work in 
     the industrial and service enterprises of the United Kingdom.
       In the post-colonial years in an age of global 
     protectionism, most Caribbean countries opted for the 
     developmental strategy of industrialization by invitation 
     hiding behind the high walls of tariff barriers. That 
     resulted in an economy with an export producing primary 
     sector of sugar and banana and the new sector of light 
     manufacturing serving the needs of the domestic market. The 
     developmental strategy accelerated the movement from country 
     to town where the limited manufacturing sector lacked the 
     capacity to absorb the burgeoning labor force. Salvation came 
     through the export of skilled and unskilled labor to the 
     United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
       The growth in the labor force has tapered off in the 
     contemporary period and the unemployment rate in April 2006 
     was estimated at 134,000 or 10.7 percent of the labor force. 
     Nonetheless, Jamaica has a precious stratum of own-account 
     workers estimated at 376,000. In the goods producing sector, 
     there are 200,000 people employed in agriculture, 105,000 in 
     construction and a mere 80,000 in manufacturing. Traditional 
     agriculture, particularly sugar-cane, there is an effort to 
     adapt that industry through the conversion of sugar-cane into 
     the fuel producing ethanol. The purchase of the sugar 
     industry by Brazilian investors should make the sugar 
     industry more viable and contribute to reducing Jamaica's 
     dependency on fossil fuel and with sufficient capacity to 
     export ethanol to the United States.
       Jamaica's economy in the last decade has seen the expansion 
     of the alumina industry and a massive increase in the tourist 
     sector. Alumina and bauxite are highly capital intensive and 
     only 7,000 workers are absorbed in the mining industry. The 
     tourist industry is labor intensive but has failed to absorb 
     all those looking for work as the burgeoning squatter 
     settlements are rampant in the parishes where tourism is 
     concentrated.
       Jamica has made some headway in the export of manufacturing 
     goods. That sector exports approximately 700m in 2006 and if 
     Jamaica is going to absorb its surplus labor problem, there 
     will have to be exponential growth in that sector of the 
     economy, particularly in agro-products.
       The Jamaica exporting sector is assisted by state policy. 
     Members of the Jamaica Exporters Association are eligible for 
     loans with reduced interest rates. But what is desperately 
     needed is a strategic developmental plan that brings together 
     venture capitalists from abroad and Jamaica's indigenous 
     bourgeoisie aimed at creating large scale production of 
     juices like guava, june plum, etc. aimed at flooding both the 
     European and the United States market. Micro-enterprises 
     cannot compete in a global market and Jamaica is in need of 
     large scale production aimed at mega-markets to absorb 
     Jamaica's surplus workers.
       All the successful countries that have made the transition 
     from fledgling developing countries, like Singapore, South 
     Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and China, have made it through 
     adopting an export-oriented strategy.
       What is required is the emergence of an entrepreneurial 
     class with a clear understanding of the complexity of 
     globalization that will partner with government to build that 
     export capacity. In this age of globalization, CARICOM must 
     look outwards and build the necessary bridges with the 
     Caribbean Diaspora to ensure that the Caribbean is not 
     trapped in the backwater of globalization.

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