As the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting is about to take place in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago’s capital, there is not much hope among its member states that it will achieve anything more than declarations without the means to implement them.

Sir Ronald Sanders is a business executive and former Caribbean diplomat who publishes widely on small states in the global community. Reponses to: www.sirronaldsanders.com

Indeed, even more worryingly, there is a mood in some of the developed Commonwealth countries that the organisation no longer has relevance in the international community.

Sadly, even though the Commonwealth Summit is being held on the eve of the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change, there is strong resistance from major capitals to any notion of a Commonwealth initiative on this issue.

I hope my information is incorrect, but it is being said in circles that should know that Canada is one of the countries that is opposed to any initiative being taken on climate change outside of what could be achieved in Copenhagen. And, the world now knows that already diluted declarations have been prepared for the Copenhagen conference and they are non-binding anyway.

If the information about Canada is true, it is much to be regretted, for small states, particularly those in the Caribbean, have long looked to Canada to champion their causes and to stand with them in the Commonwealth especially. In the past, Canada has not shirked this role, and it has not been to Canada’s disadvantage. By championing small states, Canada has been able to count small states in the legions of its support.

No other plurilateral organisation has served the interests of small states better than the Commonwealth over the last four decades. Of the now 52 member states, 32 are small with 12 of them from the Caribbean. Certainly, the G20, despite the membership of five Commonwealth countries – Australia, Britain, Canada, India and South Africa – can not purport to serve small states since not one small state is represented at the table, and, so far, no machinery has been put in place to formally ascertain their views, in advance of G20 meetings, on the global issues that affect them.

As the world has moved increasingly to globalisation and trade liberalisation, the majority of small states, which were from the very outset only marginally capable of economic survival, have found themselves overwhelmed by new challenges such as sea-level rise, drug trafficking and attendant high rates of crime, high migration of their best educated people, and a lack of capacity for negotiating the integration of their societies into larger trading blocs and the new global trading system. While bigger countries have similar problems, they have the resources and flexibility to address these problems, unlike the small states.

This is the context in which this CHOGM is being held. It suggests that the Commonwealth in tandem with the small states themselves should explore ways in which the imperilled societies of the majority of small states could become more viable and so serve their particular interests as well as those of the wider Commonwealth.

What should be the crucial issues? A priority should be Climate Change. The escalation of adverse weather related conditions, especially sea-level rise, challenge the very existence of several Commonwealth countries such as the Maldives, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Tokelau and Tuvalu. In other cases, sea-level rise and flooding threaten agricultural production and trade for many states such as Guyana, Belize, Ghana, Tanzania and Bangladesh. Both stronger hurricanes and steady beach erosion also threaten tourism and agricultural production in several Caribbean islands. And, for all of the affected countries, the high costs involved in adaptation are simply unattainable on their own.
Why then not a Commonwealth initiative to do something tangible for the most vulnerable regardless of what happens at Copenhagen? Surely, the Commonwealth could resolve to mobilise resources from the World Bank and other organisations to put in place a programme for the countries whose very existence is threatened? If not, what do the leaders of these countries tell their people? What does the Commonwealth tell them? Is it that they must quite literally paddle their own canoe?

A second priority should be the impact of the global crisis on all Commonwealth countries and particularly what should be done for the smallest and most vulnerable economies. It was a welcome development to see the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) Secretariat make the statement that CARICOM countries “have not seen any significant inflow for that (the US$1 trillion pledged to the IMF by the G20 countries), we have not heard or seen any significant changes in policies of the IMF as an example”. It is time for that kind of frank talk.

The Global crisis produced the G20 countries to replace the G7, which has controlled the world economy over the last sixty years, to stimulate global demand and supply, but there has been no accompanying measures for the smallest, most vulnerable countries for debt relief, new aid, and sustainable capital flows. It is right that these governments must devise policies that address these issues themselves, but it is also right that the international community should act to provide help.

Essentially small states have been left out in the cold with the IMF still the only mechanism to which they can turn – and no change, despite all the rhetoric, in the prescriptions of the IMF itself.

Yet, the capacity of governments of small Commonwealth countries to service debt that the IMF places as a priority is extremely difficult in conditions in which their main sources of trade and tourism revenues are in decline. The ratio of debt to GDP in several small Commonwealth countries paints the picture: St Kitts-Nevis 178%, Seychelles 151%, Jamaica 128%, Antigua and Barbuda 107%, Barbados 106%, Grenada 87%, Dominica 86%, Belize 80%, St Lucia 70%, Marshall islands 70% and St Vincent and the Grenadines 67%.

The Commonwealth should, at the very least, be considering how it can advance change in the World Bank and other financial institutions for helping small countries to restructure and repay both official and commercial debt on easy terms over the next decade.

Absent practical decisions of this kind, this CHOGM does run the risk of making the Commonwealth irrelevant even to the small states that place such tremendous importance in it. That would be sad for an organisation that retains great potential for serving the world’s interest for economic development, peace and democracy. (C’bean Net News)

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) — US President Barack Obama praised dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez and said in a posting on her website on Thursday that he looks forward to the day “all Cubans can freely express themselves.”

The US leader, in responses to questions on Sanchez’s “Generation Y” site, also repeated his desire to improve US-Cuba relations, saying he wants “direct diplomacy” with Cuba and could visit the Communist-ruled island.

US President Barack Obama. AFP PHOTO

“The United States has no intention of using military force in Cuba,” Obama wrote in a reply. “Only the Cuban people can bring about positive change in Cuba and it is our hope that they will soon be able to exercise their full potential.”

Obama’s comments broke no new ground on US policy toward Cuba. Relations between Washington and Havana soured after Fidel Castro came to power in a 1959 revolution and were further strained when he pushed Cuba toward the Soviet bloc.

The United States maintains a 47-year-old trade embargo on the Caribbean nation.

But the unusual written exchange — Sanchez wrote that she sent questions to Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro — added to the blogger’s international stature as a leading dissident voice in Cuba.

“Your blog provides the world a unique window into the realities of daily life in Cuba. It is telling that the Internet has provided you and other courageous Cuban bloggers with an outlet to express yourself so freely,” Obama wrote.

“The government and people of the United States join all of you in looking forward to the day all Cubans can freely express themselves in public without fear and without reprisals,” he said.

A spokesman for the White House National Security Council confirmed that Obama had written Sanchez.

Raul Castro, however, has not responded, according to Sanchez, 34, who has won several international awards and was named by Time Magazine last year as one of the world’s 100 most influential people.

She is among a growing group of young Cubans who have taken to the Internet to express their desire for change in Cuba.

Her blog often describes the hardships of life in Cuba and criticizes the repression of dissent by the government, which has made clear its distaste for her. Havana views dissidents as mercenaries working for the United States and other countries.

Sanchez said two weeks ago that she was detained and roughed up by state security agents in what she believes was a Cuban government message to quiet her criticism.

The Cuban government has said nothing about the incident, but the US State Department said it expressed its “deep concern” to Havana. Obama did not mention it in his reply.

Obama pointed out to Sanchez what he said were steps to improve relations with Cuba, including an easing of the trade embargo and the initiation of talks on migration and postal service.

But he has said further normalization of relations depends on Cuba making progress on human rights and releasing political prisoners.

Raul Castro, who replaced ailing older brother Fidel Castro as president last year, has said Cuba is willing to talk to the United States about anything, but that it will make no unilateral concessions to its long-time enemy.

“I have said that it is time to pursue direct diplomacy without preconditions, with friends and foe alike. I am not interested, however, in talking for the sake of talking,” Obama told Sanchez.

Asked if he would be willing to travel to Cuba, Obama said, “I would never rule out a course of action that could advance the interests of the United States and advance the cause of freedom for the Cuban people,” he said.

Sanchez has a larger international audience but is little known in Cuba where Internet access is limited.

She asked Obama whether the US trade embargo was to blame for Cuba’s lack of Internet, to which he pointed out that he had lifted restrictions on US telecommunications companies that want to offer service there.

“These are small steps but an important part of a process to move US-Cuban relations in a new and more positive direction,” he said of his policy.

“Achieving a more normal relationship, however, will require action by the Cuban government.” (C’bean Net News)

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, speaking at Wednesday’s opening session of the Jamaica Association of Young Professionals’ (JAYP) Leadership Conference (JIS photo)

“It is not right. I want to say to the sports people who are doing well and earning money, contribute your little income tax, so that we can help other children come up and be stars, as well,” Shaw told Wednesday’s opening session of the Jamaica Association of Young Professionals’ (JAYP) Leadership Conference in New Kingston.

He was responding to what he said was a “disappointing” statement made recently by “a member of the track and field community” that the Government has not invested tangibly in Jamaican athletes.

Although the Minister called no name, it was obvious that he was responding to the recent statement made by MVP Track and Field Club founder/director/coach, Stephen Francis, that the Government has not invested tangibly, but has benefited tremendously from the exploits of the athletes.

Francis, speaking at the CAST/UTech Alumi Power Breakfast last week Thursday, was reported as saying that the relationship should be “symbiotic and not parasitic”, and advocated income tax exemptions for the athletes.

But, Shaw said that while the private sector has supported the annual Boys and Girls Champs, the Government has put a lot of money into it. He said that Governments, past and present, have supported the development of sports and the athletes through the budget, as well as the Sports Development Foundation and the CHASE Fund.

“It is irresponsible for that person to say that Government has nothing to do with the success of our sports people all over the world,” he said.

Shaw also used the opportunity to congratulate world 100 and 200 metres record holder, Usain Bolt, for setting a good example in terms of payment of income tax from his earnings.

“My Director General at Tax Administration said to me recently, ‘Shaw, whenever you get a chance congratulate Usain Bolt, because he files his returns and he has paid taxes on the income he has earned.’ If Usain Bolt can do it, then everybody else should follow his example,” the Minister added.

The Income Tax Act requires persons earning above the threshold of $320,736 to pay 25% on the additional income. The Taxpayer Audit and Assessment Department (TAAD) has written a number of athletes about outstanding income tax, and meetings are being held with them to discuss the matter.

Shaw said that he dreams “of the day when we can reduce overall personal income taxes”, as well as the day when every Jamaican “will feel a sense of duty and patriotism” in making their income tax contributions.

The Leadership Conference, which addresses corporate challenges through effective leadership, continues Thursday morning, with Minister of Education, Andrew Holness, delivering the opening address at ten o’clock. (C’bean Net  News)

SAN ANTONIO, Venezuela (Reuters) — Venezuelan soldiers on Thursday blew up two makeshift foot bridges that stretched across the border to Colombia in the latest incident to stoke a diplomatic dispute between the Andean neighbors.

Colombia’s government criticized the destruction of the bridges as an aggression and a violation of international law, which it would denounce at the United Nations and the Organization of American States in Washington.

The long-simmering Andes spat has been mostly limited to diplomatic barbs in the past. But the current crisis is raising the risk of more violence along the volatile frontier where rebels, drug gangs and and smugglers operate.

General Eusebio Aguero, Venezuela’s army commander in the Tachira border region, ordered his soldiers to destroy the bridges using explosives. He said the crossings were unauthorized and used for illegal activities.

“They are two foot bridges that paramilitary fighters used, where gasoline and drug precursors were smuggled, subversive groups entered,” he told reporters, adding that several other bridges would be destroyed. “They are not considered in any international treaty.”

Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said troops from the Venezuelan army arrived in trucks and dynamited the bridges that cross into Colombia’s Norte de Santander department.

The Colombian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “This is a unilateral act and an aggression against the civilian population and the frontier communities.”

Tensions are high between US ally Colombia and Venezuela over a Colombian plan to allow the United States more access to its military bases as part of anti-drug and counter-insurgency cooperation against FARC rebels.

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, a fierce US adversary, has sent more troops to the border and told his military commanders to “prepare for war” because he says the US base plan could be used to stage an invasion of his OPEC nation.

In a document to justify a request for funds to expand one of the bases, the US Air Force said Colombia was ideal to provide air access to most of South America and cited anti-US governments as one of the reasons it needed that access.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe says the base deal is just an extension of current cooperation with U.S. troops. But he has urged the United Nations and the Organization of American States to investigate Chavez’s “war threats”.

The two countries have in the past managed to work out their differences. But the current crisis is already cutting into their $7 billion annual bilateral trade, making this dispute harder to resolve.

Many analysts say Chavez may be looking for political gain by stirring up tensions as a way to distract from domestic troubles, such as power and water shortages that are threatening to dent his popularity.

Colombia’s four-decade guerrilla war often spills over the border, where killing and kidnapping are common. Chavez accuses Colombia of not protecting its border, while Colombian officials say he backs Colombia’s FARC rebels. (C’bean Net News)