Arthur
Balford Henry, Staff Reporter
JAMAICA IS to assist in funding the preparatory work on the setting up of the proposed South Co-ordinating Commission.
But, it will be providing less than the US$100,000 other nations have committed.
Prime Minister P.J. Patterson told the media attending the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting in Canouan, St. Vincent and the Grenadines last week that a number of countries had offered to contribute US$100,000 each to the preparatory work.
However, he said that Jamaica was not in a position to make a similar contribution. The size and nature of Jamaica's contribution has not yet been determined, he said.
The Jamaican Prime Minister was responding to questions, including one raised by a Barbadian reporter suggesting that his conflict with Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur was triggered by Mr. Patterson's committing CARICOM to a US$100,000 contribution to the preparatory work on the proposed commission.
But, Mr. Patterson said that no request was made of any CARICOM Government to contribute to the process.
He said that the funding started with a US$100,000 commitment from Cuban President Fidel Castro at the G77 meeting in Havana in April and since then a number of other countries had made similar commitments.
He said that the preparatory process was fully financed as the pledges were already sufficient to pay for the preparation of a study.
The study is expected to be presented to G77 leaders when they meet in New York in Septem-ber for the United Nation's Millennium Summit.
He said that these funds were not for the actual establishment of the Commission, for which a separate form of funding will be devised.
Mr. Patterson said that in the new global trade era, developing countries needed the South Commission staffed with technically competent persons to match the bureaucracy of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which represents the interest of the developed nations.
"We want to make sure that G77 can match whatever the developed world has to offer," Mr. Patterson said.
He said that it was not planned that the commission would have a large bureaucracy employed at the headquarters. But it would keep a list of experts who could be called on at any time to do the work.
Mr. Patterson said that among the things the commission would do was to deal with special treatment for small economies, debt relief for heavily indebted countries, WTO waiver for ACP/EU partnership agreement and reform of the international financial architecture to encourage transparency and equitable development.
He said that the recent OECD black listing of CARICOM offshore banking countries highlighted the increasing need for developing countries to be able to respond, in a co-ordinated manner and with adequate technical advice, to problems involving from bananas to offshore banking.
He said he had no fight with Mr. Arthur, but there were people who had reservations about the commission. However, he said that doubts shouldn't prevent them from working towards its objectives.
This was supported by a communique issued by the CARICOM leaders at the end of their meeting on Wednesday, which said that they acknowledged the need for the South to strengthen its co-ordinating capacity, took note of the proposed commission and, "noted, in this regard, the role being played by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, and the advisory role being played by the chief negotiator of the Regional Negotiating Machinery, Sir Shridath Ramphal."
