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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSP #0217/01 0452011
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 142011Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6440
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 3548
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT OF SPAIN 000217 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/14/2016 
TAGS: PREL ECIN ETRD EPET XL TD
SUBJECT: CARICOM INTER-SESSIONAL WRAP-UP: PETROCARIBE AND 
HAITI ISSUES RESOLVED 
 
REF: A. A. PORT OF SPAIN 00204 
     ¶B. B. PORT OF SPAIN 00034 
 
Classified By: DCM Eugene P. Sweeney for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  At the final press conference of the 17th 
CARICOM Inter-sessional Heads of Government meeting, members 
announced that they had resolved two of the most contentious 
issues, Haiti's status in CARICOM and PetroCaribe.  On 
PetroCaribe, T&T decided to support suspension of the common 
external tariff.  Apparently, this concession garnered a 
"sympathetic hearing" to a CARICOM-U.S. partial-scope trade 
agreement that would grant T&T petroleum-based products 
preferential trade status.  The heads of government also 
asserted that Haiti would be represented at the regular 
CARICOM meeting that will take place in July.  Outgoing 
Jamaican PM Patterson gave an overview of CARICOM's historic 
development and urged continued forward progress.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (U) The 17th CARICOM Inter-sessional Heads of Government 
meeting wrapped up on February 10 with a late-evening press 
conference.  Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick 
Manning chaired the press briefing.  St. Vincent PM 
Gonsalves, Jamaican PM Patterson and CARICOM Secretary 
General Carrington also spoke at the briefing. 
 
CONFERENCE OVERVIEW 
 
¶3.  (U) Manning detailed the outcomes of the conference, 
distilling the lengthy joint communiqu into five points. 
 
- The Bahamas signed the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.  This 
was the final signature required to bring the CARICOM Single 
Market into force. 
 
- CARICOM allocated USD 120 million to establish a regional 
development fund.  Twenty million will come from the 
petroleum stabilization fund, with the remainder to be paid 
by the member states according to an as-yet undeveloped 
formula. 
 
- CARICOM member states resolved their differences on 
PetroCaribe.  After a full, frank discussion of the pitfalls 
and benefits to the system, CARICOM members "kissed and made 
up" on this divisive issue. 
 
- CARICOM offered congratulations to the Haitian people for 
their recent elections.  CARICOM affirmed that, once the 
results are certified as free and fair, Haiti would receive 
an invitation to the July CARICOM meeting. 
 
- Finally, outgoing Jamaican PM Patterson received high 
accolades for his unstinting work to further Caribbean 
integration. 
 
------------------------------ 
PETROCARIBE STILL A SORE SPOT? 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4.  (SBU) During the question and answer portion of the 
briefing, Manning looked distinctly uncomfortable when 
pressed to explain exactly how the PetroCaribe issue had been 
resolved.  Manning continually asserted that all sides saw 
both the benefits and pitfalls to the situation, but that 
they had resolved their differences.  He announced that T&T 
decided to support an exemption from the common external 
tariff for PetroCaribe to work.  Somewhat less confidently he 
revealed that T&T would seek to negotiate directly with 
Venezuela to process some of the crude to be used for the 
PetroCaribe system.  He also noted that he received "a 
sympathetic hearing" to pursue a partial-scope free trade 
agreement with the United States that would pertain to 
CARICOM products currently produced only in Trinidad, such as 
methanol, urea, ammonia and ethanol propylene (Ref B). 
Manning took this opportunity to underscore the need to 
follow CARICOM's existing consultative structures. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
ECONOMIC PROGRESS:  MOVING PEOPLE WITHIN, LOBBYING WITHOUT 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) PM Gonsalves commented that the members of the 
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States felt comfortable 
with the pace of integration.  He also noted that prior to 
July's meeting, he expects expanded consultation on regional 
free movement of people.  Carrington spoke about the need for 
 
CARICOM to lobby beyond its borders to ensure that its voice 
is heard in larger international fora, such as the WTO.  He 
expressed displeasure with the EU decision to end the sugar 
protocol, calling it the "abrogation of a sacred treaty" and 
called on the CARICOM Heads of Government to ensure that they 
reached out to Europe to make their collective position known. 
 
---------------------------- 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS NEEDED 
---------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) The undisputed star of the conference was outgoing 
Jamaican PM Patterson.  Patterson first briefed on 
developments from the economic subcommittee.  He noted that 
CARICOM needs to develop a juridical persona, and that action 
will be taken on this issue in July.  Patterson revealed that 
the Heads of Government agreed that CARICOM should be 
prepared to enter into direct free trade negotiations with 
the United States in the case that the Free Trade Area of the 
Americas does not materialize. 
 
¶7.  (U) Journalists managed to wring the concession out of 
Patterson that he would be willing, if asked, to consult with 
CARICOM leaders as they embark on their EU negotiations.  He 
stated that, while writing was now his highest priority, he 
could not deny his former CARICOM colleagues the network of 
contacts he had built up over his years in government. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
A CARICOM RETROSPECTIVE:  OVERALL, PRETTY GOOD 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶8.  (U) Patterson moved into a retrospective on CARICOM's 
development.  Overall, he is pleased to have been a part of 
CARICOM from the beginning, and is largely satisfied with its 
development.  However, he cautioned that members must ensure 
they implement their decisions, rather than just making 
statements.  Patterson also expressed supreme displeasure 
with the slow pace of bringing the Caribbean Court of Justice 
into being, which denies CARICOM members local, ultimate 
jurisdiction over their justice systems.  In what seemed to 
be a veiled reference to CARICOM's previously laissez faire 
attitude towards Haiti, Patterson exhorted his colleagues to 
make foreign policy decisions based on principle, rather than 
on political expedience so that history can judge the 
integrity of their decisions. 
 
--------------------------- 
RETURNING HAITI TO THE FOLD 
--------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) Reporters pressed on CARICOM's position vis--vis 
Haiti, implying that it had softened.  PM Manning denied that 
the position had softened, pointing out that CARICOM had 
consistently required that Haiti's government be 
democratically elected before Haiti was invited back into 
CARICOM.  All speakers asserted that Haiti would be welcomed 
back to CARICOM in time for the July meeting.  PM Gonsalves 
advised reporters that they could look to CARICOM members' 
participation in the Haitian inauguration as evidence of 
reengagement. 
 
¶10.  (C) COMMENT:  For CARICOM as a whole, the 
inter-sessional meeting was a success because it resolved the 
two most potentially contentious issues, PetroCaribe and 
Haiti, without much acrimony.  Meanwhile, T&T may have turned 
a loss on PetroCaribe into a win on trade.  Although not 
explicitly linked, it appears that T&T agreed to facilitate 
PetroCaribe by supporting the common external tariff waiver 
in return for permission to pursue a CARICOM free-trade 
agreement with the U.S. that would provide exclusive benefit 
to T&T.  Manning stuck by his guns even in this by using the 
CARICOM consultative system rather than forging ahead and 
negotiating it unilaterally, the way he alleges some 
Caribbean states did with PetroCaribe.  END COMMENT. 
AUSTIN