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07th
January 2010
The Basseterre,
Saint Kitts Treaty Signing
M. G. George
Reports
emanating from a ceremony that was aired on
radio stations throughout the sub-region of
the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States
last month to mark what was said to be the signing
of a new treaty establishing the OECS could
have been somewhat troubling to listeners of
the region, especially the OECS sub-region.
Also confusing were media reports that Heads
of Government of sister countries of the Organization
of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) on December
29, 2009 in Basseterre, Saint Kitts signed a
new treaty of Basseterre.
What happened on December 29, 2009 was an initialing
of the new Basseterre treaty by the Heads of
Government and not a signing of the treaty which
would have made it effective immediately.
By initialing the document the Heads were saying
that they were all in favour of its contents
or to put it in simpler terms they were all
in agreement to the language used in the document.
The reason for the initialing and not an outright
signing lies in the fact that the sub-region
has yet to sign off on the Economic Union that
has been touted for so long.
Confusion has arisen over what appears to be
two treaties awaiting the signatures of the
Heads of Government. And it is confusion caused,
not intentionally, by personnel of the OECS
Secretariat and government ministries of sister
countries. They speak of a revised Treaty of
Basseterre and in the same breathe speak of
the Economic Union Treaty. The VOICE this week
learned that in all the rhetoric hitting the
peoples of the sub-region regarding the revised
Basseterre Treaty and the Economic Union Treaty
they are but one and the same thing.
For economic unification to take place in the
member countries of the OECS a new or revised
Treaty creating the OECS must be established
that would embodied all what is needed for the
economic unification to take place.
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Here
is an example.
Under the old 1981 Treaty of Basseterre decisions
taken by the Authority, meaning the Heads of
Government, were not automatically binding and
enforceable in Member States. This is a reality
that has slowed up not only the deepening of
OECS integration but has also impacted negatively
on the flow of benefits to the peoples of the
OECS.
This new or revised Treaty of Basseterre will
change that in that there will be certain decisions
within certain areas that when taken at the
level of the Authority will have to be binding
on all countries of the Sisterhood. This will
ensure that much more is achieved for the peoples
of the OECS because of the enforceability tag
those decisions would carry with them.
One such decision that would have the enforceability
tag on it would be the decision to create an
economic union amongst member states.
There is some degree of complexity in all of
this which would require a more resourceful
person to explain such as someone from the OECS
Secretariat, however suffice to say the new
treaty embraces , the establishment of an Economic
Union of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean
States as a single financial and economic space
and identifies the Organization as an institutional
forum to discuss and facilitate constitutional,
political and economic changes which would be
necessary for the successful participation of
Member States in the regional and global economies.
Each Member State would have to go to their
respective parliaments to ratify the treaty.
It is hoped that each Member State does what
is necessary within its parliament before June
2010 so that at the next Meeting of the Authority
scheduled for June 2010 in Saint Lucia the revised
treaty would be signed establishing the economic
union and hopefully a more profitable life for
citizens of the OECS.
The new treaty, it is said, will complete the
process of integration, as initiated by the
original Treaty, by addressing the new circumstances
which now confront the member states. It addresses
directly the weakness in implementing OECS-
wide policies by instituting legislative and
executive procedures.
Discuss
Story
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