A few weeks ago, in July, the foreign minister of the Dominican Republic suggested that his country should join the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). This would not be a good development for CARICOM now.

Sir Ronald Saunders

This is not the first time that the Dominican Republic has expressed an interest in joining CARICOM. It became an observer in 1982, and in 1991 the government presented CARICOM with a request for full membership.

CARICOM did not respond formally to the request, but it was well known that regional governments and the private sector at the time felt that their countries would be swamped by goods produced more cheaply in the Dominican Republic because of its lower-paid work force and greater economies of scale.

The collective population of CARICOM then was about five million people (Suriname was not yet a member, and Haiti had no status in the organisation) with Jamaica (2.4million) and Trinidad and Tobago (1.3 million) accounting for most of them.

The Dominican Republic had a population of approximately eight million people.

Further, governments were not confident that the Dominican Republic would hold to CARICOM positions on regional and international issues. While the Dominican Republic was courting CARICOM, it was also flirting with the Central American group of countries.

What deeply troubled CARICOM governments then was the Dominican Republic's siding with Central American countries to distance themselves from CARICOM's relationship with Cuba because they thought that trade benefits from the United States, under the Caribbean Basin Initiative, would be threatened.

Santo Domingo, the capital of Dominica Republic, which has expressed an interest in joining CARICOM

A few years later, CARICOM was constrained by external factors to formalise a relationship with the Dominican Republic. As the West Indian Commission put it in their report: "Both the United States and the European Community have 'redefined Haiti and the Dominican Republic by including them in negotiating units with the other CARICOM states for the purpose of concluding arrangements in respect of the initiatives which they have taken toward the Caribbean."

The relationship was formalised first with a 1998 free trade agreement between CARICOM and the Dominican Republic covering some 400 products, and then by the creation of the Caribbean Forum, made up of CARICOM and the Dominican Republic to facilitate negotiations with the European Union.

As happened in the early 1990s, what seems to be driving this renewed interest by the Dominican Republic in joining CARICOM is not a desire to be an integral part of a community with its member states, but a belief that it could better negotiate an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) if it were a full member of CARICOM.

The foreign minister, Carlos Morales Troncoso, basically said so in his July 14th statement, repeated on July 25th by foreign ministry spokeswoman, Veri Candelario.
In the meantime, the Dominican Republic has joined the Central American countries in becoming part of a free trade pact with the United States.

Should the Dominican Republic be granted full membership of CARICOM it would be part of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) with free access to the markets of CARICOM states for good, capital and certain types of labour.

The fears that existed in 1991, that caused governments and the private sector in the region not to formally respond to the Dominican Republic's request for membership of CARICOM, would be realised. Goods and services from the Dominican Republic would indeed swamp the region.

While it is true that existing CARICOM member sates would have reciprocal access to the market of the Dominican Republic, economies of scale, higher wage rates and other costs of production in existing CARICOM states would make their goods and services uncompetitive.

Beyond this, exporters in the Dominican Republic are accustomed to working in the English language given their sales in the US and Canada. But, for the most part, Caribbean exporters would be at a disadvantage working commercially in Spanish. The language capacity is just not well developed enough.

Even at the levels of the CARICOM secretariat and the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery, existing CARICOM members could be disadvantaged.

With its present population of 8.5 million people, the Dominican Republic would pay a large share of the costs of both bodies and would be entitled to a share of the posts including the top ones.

The country would also be entitled to insist that documents be prepared in Spanish and that interpreters be employed for every meeting. Costs would be increased with a proportionate increase for all member sates.

The Dominican Republic would then be able to achieve precisely what its foreign minister identified: "an increase in sales of sugar, bananas, coffee and other products" and "better conditions to negotiate with the European Union", plus a wider economic space in the Caribbean in which to sell manufactured goods and services.

So, we can see what's in it for the Dominican Republic, but what would be the benefits for CARICOM?
The answer is: none in the present circumstances.

The English-speaking countries and Suriname are in the throes of trying to establish the CSME - a process that is vital to their future development, but which, at the moment, faces uncertainty as it is questioned in some influential quarters in the region.

It is essential that the existing members of CARICOM complete their own internal economic arrangements to preserve the integrity of the community and strengthen their own competitive capacity, before expanding their membership. Additionally, there are unsettled matters to be overcome such as the position of the Bahamas in the CSME.

The sub-groupings of the region - CARICOM and the Central American Group in particular, have to start the process of meaningful co-operation in a number of traditional areas including trade, finance, science and technology, culture and education.

And their work must be expanded to include dealing with the increasing problem of refugees and the ever-present scourge of drug trafficking.

The Dominican Republic and Cuba must be included in these discussions. I am assuming that, eventually, Haiti will return to the CARICOM fold as a full participant in all its arrangements.

But, until these things are done, it would be premature and not in CARICOM's interest to widen its membership to include the Dominican Republic at this time; instead CARICOM should strengthen the machinery for jointly negotiating with Europe through the Caribbean Forum.

Ron Sanders is a former Caribbean diplomat
Email:ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com

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