‘No threat to Caricom’

-Granger says ahead of summit

President David Granger does not believe that recent conflicts between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are in any way a threat to the survival of the Caribbean Community.

“There is no threat to Caricom,” Granger said, while speaking yesterday on the weekly Public Interest television programme.

The president was at the time responding to a question which asked if the strained relations between Jamaica and Trinidad will be a dominant issue at next week’s Caricom Heads of Government summit, especially in light of the recent vote by citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) to exit the European Union (EU).

Jamaica has been airing concerns about trade imbalances within Caricom as well as the treatment of Jamaican nationals in other member states, such as Trinidad.

Granger said that while the issue would be raised, it would not be one of the dominant ones. He also stressed that in his view there is no danger of Jamaica leaving the regional body over its dissatisfaction with Trinidad and Tobago.

“It will be an issue. The purpose of meeting is to resolve problems. I don’t believe the issues raised by Jamaica are severe enough to lead to an exit. Every head of government must understand what the public is saying and if the Jamaican public is calling for investigations into their concerns and complaints, then the leader must do so. I did not get the impression that anybody is asking for exit. What they are asking for is improvement in relations. I would feel, given the state of play in the Caribbean, if Jamaica had legitimate concerns about the influx of TT (Trinidadian) goods in their market, if they feel there is any unfairness, there are mechanisms for dealing with that but you don’t leave, you don’t quarrel and destroy the whole integration movement simply because of disagreement with terms of trade. I don’t have any means of judging the mood in Jamaica but I think PM [Andrew] Holness has indicated that he will set up a task force to listen to what the Jamaican people are saying. We have had problems with trade before,” he opined.

Granger stressed that Caricom is important to the region and was firm in his view that all other heads of state are equally committed to strengthening the organisation.

“There is no threat to Caricom. In my view, all of the heads are committed to making Caricom stronger. We are scattered, we are small and our economies are vulnerable, so it would be counter-productive for us to do anything but support the integration movement.

I think they are all committed. I’m sure they are all committed [and] Caricom is very important for Guyana, strategically, economically and socially. Guyana cannot do without Caricom and we are looking for enhancement of the single market and economy. We would like to move ahead more quickly but I don’t think there is any danger that Caricom will fall apart or cease to function,” Granger said.

For Granger, security will be “the dominant issue” at the summit, “not the state of Caricom or the Trinidad-Jamaica trade relations.”

Granger further explained that he expects the Prime Minister (PM) of Trinidad and Tobago Keith Rowley to direct this agenda issue as he is lead Head in the area of security and his country is presently the one most affected by the instability in Venezuela.

“The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago would like to deal with security issues. As you know, they are very close to Venezuela and TT has seen an influx of illegal weapons and migrants because of the economic situation in Venezuela,” Granger said.

Guyana prepares to host the summit, the head of state said, with the expectation that Caricom will “improve the mechanism for intelligence and response within [the] Caribbean Security Mechanism as well as give support to Trinidad.”

“Caricom’s view of security has to do with support,” the president said, while adding that this support is for countering both external threats, such as those faced by Belize from Guatemala and Guyana from Venezuela, as well as threats of internal instability presently being faced by Trinidad and Tobago.

“Right now, there has been an influx of illegal weapons in Trinidad from Venezuela.

There are reports of elements trading weapons for food. That is very grim. So, we will be looking at security both at the strategic as well as domestic level,” Granger said.