The View From Europe

In normal times a sudden drop in the price of oil would elicit a collective sigh of relief among Caribbean governments and Central Bankers.

Two weeks ago, Caribbean Heads of Government passed a resolution critical of US policy towards Cuba.

No case of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been reported in the Caribbean (Editor’s note: The Dominican Republic confirmed one case yesterday).

One of the more interesting aspects of the recently ended Heads of Government meeting, was the positive tone of the remarks made by CARICOM’s ad interim Chair, Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley.

Two weeks ago, Trinidad’s Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley, delivered a major speech.

Last month Britain held an Africa investment summit. It was live streamed and hosted by the country’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

A little over a week ago the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, met in Kingston with Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness.

The Caribbean has the potential to do much more to develop its identity, spur growth, soft power and competitiveness, if its citizens reimagine the future of its countries and cities.

Politicians love to promise a better and brighter future. They tend to say little about the day to day experience their citizens have of the services they provide.

On Thursday the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo proposed a new approach to the political crisis that continues to grip Venezuela.

In the slow news period between Christmas and the new year, the Financial Times published a chart that graphically illustrated how the global trade in goods has changed since 2000.

Taken at face value, the outcome of Britain’s December 12 general election could not have been clearer.

Regional news coverage can be patchy. While electoral politics, national economic performance and crime from across the Caribbean are regularly reported and commented upon, this is not the case when the issues are regarded as being domestic. 

Last month CARICOM’s Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) took a decision that will likely determine whether Anglophone Caribbean sugar producers have a sustainable future.

Their plight no longer hits the headlines, but the shocking personal stories continue to emerge.  

Although the statistics vary, reliable Caribbean and international entities suggest that the region’s sector is now delivering on average directly and indirectly about 40.6% of the Caribbean’s GDP, earned the region in 2018 US$62bn, and employs at least one in 11 of the region’s citizens.

A long-standing precept of diplomacy has been that nations and their representatives do not intervene directly in the internal politics of other nations.

In the last few days Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, has reiterated her belief that to progress the  region must make the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) fit for purpose.

Britain is to hold a general election on December 12. It is a decision that the country’s political class hopes will end once and for all the damaging debate and procedural manoeuvres about how, when or whether the UK will leave the European Union.

Speaking last week in Pittsburg, President Trump all but confirmed that the US was withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate change agreement.