Africa-CARICOM SUMMIT A Landmark Bridge of Hope

Africa-CARICOM SUMMIT A Landmark Bridge of Hope
 
CARICOM Secretary General Dr. Carla Barnett provided the context for evaluating the   virtual historic Africa-CARICOM Summit held on Tuesday September 7, 2021.  She said:  “We have had our moments of acting together to protect and advance our mutual interests, but today we are committing to forge a new more permanent alliance that has the potential to open new vistas of collaboration and cooperation". This aspirational  goal was endorsed from the opening statement by the current Chair of the Caribbean Community, Hon Gaston Browne,  Prime Minster of Antigua and Barbuda to the closing statement by Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta,   President-in-Office of the Organization of African Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS). A preview is presented  in this link:  President Kenyatta Roots For Closer Cooperation Between Africa And The Caribbean In Confronting Common Challenges. 
 
As we await the official release of the Summit's Communique, GOFAD highlights some of the main issues advocated by the speakers from both Africa and the Caribbean  and offers some speculations  about  the prospects of future African Union-CARICOM relations. Underlying these  speculations is the hopefulness that the takeaways from the  Summit would stimulate a bridge of hope  to  a more viable Caribbean Community.      
 
 
Exploiting the Geopolitical Environment “United, we have Known Success”.
 
The two regions  account for  approximately 1.4 billion people with great natural and wealth creating resources, supplying vital commodities to the global community, and offering a strong market for the goods and services from Europe and North America. This is enriched  by the bonds of cultural,  historical and political relations and bolstered by the prospects  of   combined voting power of 69 nations  in the United Nations and all its subsidiaries including the World Trade Organization. Prime Minister  Ralph Gonsalves, St Vincent and the Grenadines aptly   summarized the potential:  “We have global bargaining power but only if we use it effectively.” The general agreement was that new relationship emanating from the Summit must also extend to increasing trade and investment between Africa and CARICOM. Preliminary figures for 2020 indicate that total trade between Africa and  the Caribbean, estimated at approximately US $29 Million is a drop of $10 Million from 2018.  While the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic can explain this decline, rebuilding the economies in both regions require that the private sector on both sides with the requisite support from the public sector  must become alive to the opportunities to expand investment and trade in both regions.  Mutual membership in organizations such as the Organization of African Caribbean and Pacific States, can be leveraged to the mutual  benefit of both regions. From the perspective of the Caribbean, Africa has been CARICOM’s invaluable partner in several platforms such as at the UN, within the Group of 77 and, in our dealings with Europe under the umbrella of what is now the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).  
 
 
Post-COVID-19 Recovery and  Debt Sustainability  
 
Debt sustainability has been a big concern for the African Union  and CARICOM,  whose member states  are among the world’s most highly indebted nations. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted  structural weaknesses of countries in both regions  and amplified the debt problem. In 2020, public debt reached 70% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Africa and 83% of GDP in CARICOM. Both Regions face the unusual conundrum of striving for debt sustainability while seeking to generate adequate fiscal resources to build resilience. The  common view is the need for a  forceful message on issues relating to rescheduling of loans, debt financing, access to capital in rebuilding efforts. An evaluation of the global vaccination system along with its failure to respond to the most vulnerable in the world is an illustration of the inequities that the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals seek to resolve. But this dilemma  is largely a spinoff from the historical  legacy whereby interests of both  Africa and the  Caribbean have  not been protected in the Bretton Wood institutions established prior to acquisition of  independent status by countries of both regions. 
 
In addition, the two regions suffered immensely from the fallout in the rising cost of commodities and transportation services during the pandemic. It   has reawakened the  vulnerability of both regions  to food supply, fragility of  markets, and sensitivity to price changes. But most of all,  the African Medical Supplies Platform emerged as a quintessential example of cooperation coordinated by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.  It is a response to the vaccine apartheid that provided for  significant amounts of vaccines for CARICOM  Member States out of the quota allocated to Africa.   An  evaluation of the global vaccination system along with its failure to respond to the most vulnerable in the world is required.  It should not happen again. 
 
 
Climate Change and Climate Resilience 
 
But even as the  recovery from COVID 19 is an uncertain contemplation, the development prospects both in  Africa and the Caribbean as it is,  across the globe,   are further buffeted by climate change. The countries of the two regions are among the most vulnerable  to the impacts of climate change.  Presentations from both African and CARICOM Leaders,  reiterated how countries in both regions, are less able to resist, adapt to, and recover from the effects of sea-level rise, prolonged droughts, and extreme weather conditions. Natural hazard events have repeatedly resulted in adverse environmental, social, and economic consequences. Projections also suggest that the two regions will face more exaggerated climate risks for the remainder of the century. This poses a serious threat to the  attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.  Hence there was unanimity  of the need to speak with one voice at the UN General Assembly  later this month and at COP 26 in Glasgow in November-December on  mainstreaming the International Climate Development Strategy (ICDS) including the  Blue Economy,  Climate Resilience,   Forests and Low Carbon Development priorities.  
 
Just as there is merit in developing joint approaches to debt,  so too  is it necessary for the  climate change challenges. The presentations from the Presidents of both the  African Development Bank and the  Caribbean Development Bank,  indicate that both regions are  well placed to engineer innovative financing approaches.  This requires advocating for access to lower cost of finance based on an imperative for development that distinguishes pre-event vulnerability, magnitude of impact, and post-event persistence and duration of impact. These effects, evidenced by our repeated natural hazard events and the Covid-19 pandemic, present strong arguments against the inadequacy of per capita income as a measure of classification and access to concessional finance. In this respect, Africa is described as "a fountain of knowledge" on innovative financing for the private sector, especially youth entrepreneurship.  Consequently,   the Caribbean can adopt the  "Boost Africa"  model,  the joint initiative between the African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank, that offers an innovative way to de-risk private investment.
 
 Pillars  for a Sustainable Future  
 
The issues that emerged from this historic Summit  help to establish to what extent Africa- CARICOM can adopt strategies to achieve the expected outcomes associated with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.  In many instances, global solidarity resonates in the takeaways from  the Summit: 
 

• Establish trade and cooperation agreements which would significantly expand the markets for goods and services; facilitate export diversification; and create the right environment for innovation and technology transfer.
• Create opportunities for scientific research and collaboration, investments in health care, technological innovation, digitization and the creative economy.
• Develop and sustain an  African Union (AU)-CARICOM IT platform to consolidate the Summit process.
• Foster a joint collective participation in UN General Assembly  in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the World  Conference against racism in Durban (2001)   and a development compact for reparative justice. 
• Advocate  at the 2021 UN General Assembly and COP 26 for a Global Vulnerability Fund.  
• Establish an Annual AU-CARICOM Summit to deepen the relations between CARICOM and African countries.
• Create a weekly direct airlink between Africa and the Caribbean. 
• Dedicate a public-private sector mechanism to mobilize financing for governance.  
• Develop visa-free travel between the Caribbean and African countries, eliminating obstacles to trade and investment.
•  Establish “structures of cooperation” to promote mutual socio-economic interests, increase investment and trade and  enhance "people to people" exchanges.
• Within six months, develop a  Founding Charter and a Memorandum of Operation of the Forum, including proposals to overcome existing obstacles to trade and investment.
• Consider initiating a multilateral air services and an investment protection agreement  as well as a double taxation agreement between African and CARICOM states.
• Establish institutional  pillars of collaboration at CARICOM and the African Union to advance the process of effective collaboration.

 
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 Eddie Greene