Dr Len Ishmael, the Director General of the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) Secretariat in St Lucia, says the islands should work against protectionism being used as a barrier against the strides towards OECS economic union, the process OECS governments are banking on to try to establish a single space in the sub-region.
Dr Ishmael paid a flying visit to Dominica on Friday to meet with Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, his Cabinet and other key officials.
She told reporters that the question of protectionism has been surfacing in discussions she has been holding in OECS member states, with Montserratians recently expressing concerns that their efforts to go into bottled water production could be derailed by Dominica with its abundance of water and its own already established water-bottling business.
Dr Ishmael said she had to point out that a check at the supermarket in Montserrat revealed that “there are already seven or eight or nine different brands of bottled water, some of which are from outside of the Caribbean”.
She says the expectation is that the market will over time determine “that sort of equilibrium in terms of competitive advantage, competition and all those things”.
The OECS official says the world has changed and it is an opportunity “for us to change too”.
However she says she understands why “there is real fear of competition from other jurisdictions’”.
“We can all produce something that is unique and different,” she advises.
The issue of protectionism should not be a barrier for us in terms of making this (economic union) work,” Dr Ishmael says.
“Through the OECS single space we are providing an enabling environment to make sure that businesses can in fact move freely,” the OECS Director General said.
Proudly flying the economic union flag, she told reporters: “I want us very much that we consider the OECS economic union as a real opportunity, and all of us be ambassadors for that opportunity, and start thinking in terms of reinforcing the OECS personality, instead of us individually thinking of ourselves as St Lucians, as Dominicans, as Kittitians, etc.”
Dominica should withdraw from the Eastern Carribean Civil Aviation Authority; they are stalling the developing of Dominica in area of Air Access. We could partner with Jamaica or Trinidad for such services.
I wonder what really we are trying to achieve?
We must avoid too much protectionism…in other words we must make space for outsiders.
Who is providing space for us outside?
Please give us unique suggestion we need to be able to fit on the world market.
Bananas
coconut
herbal teas
water
I wish we could get that golden jar