PRESIDENT of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, has proposed the establishment of a regional development fund to help with restructuring efforts in the Caribbean.

“This concept was first proposed by Cheddi Jagan and is modelled after the structural funds in the European Union,” Jagdeo told journalists Thursday at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. “We need something like that in the region.”

President Jagdeo explained that the establishment of the fund, along with special and differential help externally, were the only ways the region would be able to compete on equal footing with countries such as the United States.

“There is no other way for the region. For the United States to really develop they had to build an intricate infrastructure, linking the various states. We need that sort of infrastructure in South America and the Caribbean. This would cheapen the cost of moving goods and it could all come from this fund,” he pointed out.

Suggesting ways in which the fund could be supported, Jagdeo said the money could come from imposing a tax on trade.

“In some countries, for example in the European Union, the money comes directly from budgets based on the size of their economies. I know that there may be some reluctance to do this within this hemisphere. However, we could put a one per cent tax on all hemispheric trade and that will generate billions of dollars,” he suggested.

The Guyanese president said every country could apply to the fund only once. He said the fund would target poverty and the problems of integration.

On another matter, Jagdeo, who is also chairman of Caricom, warned countries in the region about the dangers of opening up their markets to the outside world without a willingness on the part of richer countries to do the same.

“We must make sure that we don’t become more free traders than anyone else in the world. While we are reducing our tariffs, many countries are subsidising their farmers and our producers are faced with subsidised competition coming into the market. We are committed to free market… we want to see free trade but it must also be fair. We should open up, only to the extent that… barriers are removed from our products,” Jagdeo said.

Turning to the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) negotiations in September, Jagdeo said that it was important for the ACP states to be on one accord.

“The challenge before us as we start negotiations in September is to maintain ACP solidarity,” he said, noting that the “solidarity seems to be falling apart based on deliberate actions by the Europeans”.

“We have to make sure that we work out a common principle across regions that we will state, because if they come to negotiate and we are united, then they are going to use that to force our hand,” he stated.

He said that although the community was not considering a regional task force, the region was moving towards sharing more information and intelligence with a view to addressing some of the problems that currently plague countries.

–JIS