Cape Verde Sets Stage for ECOWAS-UNESCO Meet on Regional Integration

As the momentum on the Global Stop EPA Day gathers storm today, it is timely that Cape Verde would have just ended a three-day meeting, in collaboration with UNESCO on Regional integration in West Africa.

The theme of the conference was, according to this article on t he theme of "Nation-states and the challenges of regional integration in West Africa."

Ofcourse, I use the word "timely", because for those cognescenti of the EPA negotiations, the EU claims that it will facilitate ECOWAS regional integration. Progressive civil society knows this to be untrue.

But ofcourse, this UNESCO-funded seminar, under its programme of Management of Social Transformations programme (MOST) has more to do with the social implications of regional integration in ECOWAS and less to do with the EPAs.

The "specificity" of this article, to borrow from the article listed above, stems from the fact that in April this year, Cape Verde also played host to a similar meeting, where the meeting:

...examined the specificity of the Cape Verde archipelago within West African economic cooperation

Apparently,

Since its launch, the cases of 10 of the 15 ECOWAS member states have been analysed at national seminars in Benin (8-9 October 2005), Ghana (8-9 November 2005), Mali (14-15 November 2005), Burkina Faso (21-22 November 2005), Gambia (22-23 December 2005), Niger (18-19 October 2006), Togo (22-23 August 2006), Senegal (13-14 September 2006), Cape Verde (4-5 April 2007) and in Guinea (30-31 May 2007)

The uniqueness of the meeting was that it grouped together

scientists, political decision-makers and those involved in economic and social development with the support of several international organizations involved in social development in Africa (the African Capacity Building Foundation, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Trust Africa).

It's great to know that a book will come out of this meeting. The article maintains:

Every meeting leads to the publication of a book by the Karthala publishing house. The books on Benin, Mali, Senegal and Niger will be available at the Praia meeting, a UNESCO release said

It is expected that ann international conference will be held in AUTUMN 2008,

to produce a draft of proposals on regional integration for submission to the ECOWAS Heads of State.

We wait in eager anticipation!

Three-Day Accra Meeting on ECOWAS Free Movement--Still Valid?

As newly-elected Sierra Leonian president Koroma returns from meeting both ECOWAS and Mano River Union officials, ECOWAS ministers are meeting today, Tuesday, here in Accra.

The objective of their meeting is to discuss ECOWAS's free movement protocol.

Top on the agenda will be:

ways of overcoming problems militating against the implementation of the protocol

dealing effectively in countering the ignorance of citizens about their rights under the 1979 protocol

effectively dealing with the harmonisation of the ECOWAS passport, adopted by Headds of State of Government in 2000, "including the incorporation of biometric features such as digital photographs and thumb prints which not only enhance security but also reduce the possibility of fraud and forgery" (from:http://www.afriquenligne.fr/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9246&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=115

While we can balk at CARICOM earlier this year for having failed to "secure" a free movement protocol by way of its Cricket World Cup, we can at least hope they might also be monitoring events worldwide to see how best to bring into fruition a visa-free area -- as exempplified by the ECOWAS-zone in 2007 -- where West African citizens can veritably make any of the fifteen countries their residence for a good 90 days, before regularising.

Right now, though, the ECOWAS passport, in my view, ought to be harmonised in ALL countries.

For it to be applicable in only SIX member states some 28 years after the free protocol was adopted is a woeful expression of where ECOWAS has gone. These six countries currently using the passport are: Benin, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal ; the others using an ECOWAS travel certificate are: Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, The Gambia, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra Leone

"Fixed deadlines" and "operationalisation" come to mind in a fast and furious way!

Here's hoping that the leaders meeting in the three-day meet here in Accra will be (im)pressed upon by us--common and concerned citizens--to come up with a date that is more definitive than one comparable to what is looking like a pie-in-the-sky date of 2009 for the ECO--ECOWAS' regional currency.

In checking ECOWAS's news website here, the last meeting you see is that of 19 September!

Without a google search, how on earth would anyone have known about this meeting? ECOWAS, PULL your socks up.

You are now a Commission--and things gotta get a-changing...

Now, chance would be a fine thing!

COMESA To Regionalise Power, and Ease Trade Barriers

The relatively small weight
of intraregional trade in Africa, despite the existence of several (and frequently overlapping) RTAs, is
largely due to their production structure and the composition of their exports, as well as the presence
of non-tariff barriers and infrastructural constraints.
--(UNCTAD Trade and Development Report 2007 overview--p.XV)

Well, fancy that! The 19-member COMESA is also looking closely at how to resolve the serious lacuna within regional integration projects in Africa--that of efforts to promote intra-regional trade.

To this end, COMESA is looking more specifically at the small-scale trade sector--a long time in coming for MANY of the RECS--and how cross-border trade can be facilitated for them:

Speaking in Nairobi after holding a series of meetings with traders in East Africa to discuss detailed plans of implementing a COMESA Customs Union, due for launch in 2008, Mwencha said the trade bloc was also tackling various setbacks to trade.

My superficial reading of the review of the latest UNCTAD report on regional integration interprets some of these "infrastructural constraints" to be non-tax barriers that frustrate the efforts of traders across the region in their cross-border trading activities.

The article maintains:

These non-tax barriers include rejection of goods at border posts or delayed clearances.

A solution to this is for COMESA Secretariat launch what it calls a "simplified trade regime, which will facilitate cross-border trade for small-scale traders for consignments not exceeding US$500".

I don't think anyone can say this is a bad idea.

For me, ideas like these are only meaningful if other regionalisms can learn from them, and obtain synergies that can create a climate of understanding on how to make regional integration more palpable and real for the average COMESA-ian.

Meanwhile, what I intoned some posts ago on the regionalisation of power and energy projects has almost come to pass, in the sense that COMESA is promising that within the next few years, power shortage in the region will be a thing of the past.

This is because currently in the region -- as COMESA Secretary-General Erastus Mwencha said -- there are regular power shortages that can be attributed to Southern Africa's economic growth, with increasing demand out-stripping supply:

"If you look at the Southern Africa power pool, right now it is only Malawi and Tanzania that have not been connected. The Eastern Africa
power pool has not done as much as the Southern Africa power pool. In the next three to four years we should have the entire region interconnected which would be a tremendous..."

COMESA expects this regionalisation of power to happen by 2010/2011.

Six Years after 9/11, US-ASEAN Relations Strong

Forget the dodo-esque Free Trade Area of the Americas, have you heard of the Free Trade Area of the Pacific?

Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong, speaking to US-ASEAN constituency at the recently-concluded APEC summit in Sydney, Australia, has hinted at one, as well as an APEC-wide FTA. There has even also been talks of a necessary US leadership on the Doha trade talks, especially after it floundered in Hong Kong last year:

the US commitment to free trade sets the tone for the rest of the world, he noted, which is why a successful conclusion of the Doha Round on free trade would not be possible without American leadership.
from:http://thestar.com.my/services/printerfriendly.asp?file=/2007/9/9/asia/18829860.asp&sec=asia

You can imagine how the rest of the tale goes: Singapore pretty much kowtowing to the US on its sterling leadership on trade talks; the US having confidence reposed in it by the country of Singapore on the Middle East , Israel-Palestine; and the necessity of quid-pro-quo policies:

As for Washington’s concerns in the Middle East, Lee said that if the US is able to stabilise the situation in Iraq and make progress on the Israel-Palestine issue, it will change the balance and psychology of the region. That, in turn, will “benefit not just South-east Asia, but also countries around the world.”

The US administration must be laughing all the way to the ASEAN region.

Oops, I forgot it's already there--and has been for a good thirty years.

At a time when Singapore--assuming the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN this year--is doing a Pavlov to the US, especially at a critical time for the US when 9/11 is as close as it is, the region--and most likely Singapore--can count on some heavy US support for the future!

Will the ASEAN-OPEC Collaboration Pave Way for Regional Governance?

Given the recent collaborations between regional organisations--ranging from the recent ECOWAS-EAC collaboration to the MERCOSUR-ASEAN one, to the recent ASEAN-OPEC collaboration, you could be forgiven for thinking that the world is slowly and surely moving towards some form of regional governance. I suppose that pre-supposes there to be some form of global governance already. Maybe the two do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Either way, what they do have to do is to make sense for the rest of us. Questions, such as what type of regional governance will we be seeing should probably be the most viscerally-enquiring ones that we should be asking ourselves.

More in context of ASEAN, let me just say that ASEAN is going places. Not just because it is celebrating its fortieth anniversary, but in that celebration, it is seeking to bring to bear on the anniversary constructive outcomes that can benefit the 10-member organisation. For all the controversies over the ASEAN Charter, and whether Myanmar will be the thorn in the flesh in the conception of a rights-based constitution, what is most clear to the average observer is that things are happening, and the ASEAN region is talking to each other candidly about what it needs to do to ensure its citizens are catered for for the future. It is fair to say that ASEAN sees itself as a key player in the region that needs to have a little bit of clout.

It would therefore probably comes as little surprise that some months after the ECOWAS sub-region (allegedly) started its West African Gas Pipeline, and Latin America began talking about a Bank of the South that ASEAN would start talking about pooling its regional energy together--and it's certainly no lean feat!

ASEAN is thinking these big plans:

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations has agreed to form a regional ASEAN power grid. This will serve as a platform for members to trade electricity under a set of harmonised technical rules and regulations.

ASEAN leaders are also scheduled to sign a plan of action in the next two months in Singapore to put a $7-billion Trans ASEAN Gas Pipeline (TAGP) project back on track, Indonesia's energy minister said. ASEAN will also work closely with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to keep prices in check.

If you think those are big plans, let's try this for good measure: the very fact that they are seeking to collaborate with OPEC to "bring prices in check". For me, this type of collaboration may not just be unprecedented, but an interesting development to underscore how the collaboration underpinning the proverbial "unity is strength" has been chewed,transformed, and spat out into a need to strengthen institutional collaborations world-wide.

It also begs the question of why ECOWAS, in its discussions with the World Bank over the West Africa Gas Pipeline never came up with the idea of linking up with OPEC, considering how critical a country ECOWAS hegemon Nigeria is in the sub-region and the organisation. That CHEVRON has a stake in the WAGP reflects the serious and significant private sector interests that the US has and will continue to have in the region.

Then again, you didn't need me to tell you that; it might have been rather obvious to many casual observers.

What I'm, in fact, further interested in is not just the reporting that ASEAN is working on a regional grid, and it serves as a precedent to a region like the ECOWAS one that has a West Africa Power Pool and the WAGP, but how, it is the sure sign of developments in the regional organisations to come.

You might find this a little whimsical, but consider this: the very fact that a mere google search of "West Africa Power Pool" pulls not articles from ECOWAS, but many other private sector organisations not directly related to ECOWAS underscores the very twist and pernicious development that we will begin to see over this apparent new trend of regionalising power and energy projects--especially in Africa.

Here be Some Revelations: The European Union's View on Regional Integration (in ASEAN)

All's well that ends well--even in ASEAN, which has a very different kind of regional cooperation to that of the EU. You know you're doing something right, I suppose, when the EU tells you that your regional cooperation is the best and most successful in the world. Check these soundbites out by EU Parliamentarian, Hartmut Nassauer, invited to the 28th session of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly:

1. "We have good relations and strong economic links. The EU is a large investor and we create a lot of trade in Asean and vice-versa."

2. "Apart from having a common economic interest, our regional cooperation is the most advanced and successful in the world,"

3. "Until last year AIPA was still called the Parliamentary Organisation. It stresses parliamentary influence in Asean just like the European parliament"

A very superficial analysis would reveal, from these quotes at least, that the EU is no less than pleased with how ASEAN does business. It is evidently looking forward to ASEAN becoming a bigger bloc--as evidenced by this statement here:

Nassauer said the EU would support Asean the best it could in its efforts to speed up integration of the Asean community particularly on the single common market

I guess there can be nothing wrong with parties seeking to maximise cooperation, while contemporraneously lending credence to the maxim that there are "no permanent friends, only permanent allies", as so wittily enunciated by Palmerston with regard to British foreign policy in the nineteenth century.

So, you've got no bother, really, wondering why the EU would be making such proclamations at this time.

Either way, I'm bored. Bored because these pronouncements are nothing mere than reflections of a less-than-altruistic motive by the EU to woo the ASEAN region like never before. And here's the bombshell: the EU betrays itself by giving us mere mortals a sneak preview into how it conceives of regional integration. Read carefully:

the basic element for the EU approach of regional cooperation was

how to strike a balance between the super powers like China, India and the United States

.

"The only chance for the weaker and smaller states is for them to act together. For a balanced development, South-east Asian states had decided to act as a regional cooperation,"

he added.

If that be the case, why the hell will the European Union not leave Africa alone to manage its own regional integration? Why does it seek to force one for us--as evidenced by the aggressive pursuit of the Economic Partnership Agreement, slated for December this year?

Does it mean, therefore, that it's one rule for ASEAN, and another altogether for African Union's regional organisations?

Mauritania & ECOWAS: A Self-centred Cooperation?

So, Mauritania wants to relate to ECOWAS? It would be welcome news if it weren't for the fact that the pseudo West African country, with a (natural) penchant for the Maghreb, left the 15-member bloc back in 1999.

Even if ECOWAS has moved on--and, really, does it have a choice?--as to whether it will accept Mauritania back into the Black West African fold is a moot point.

The motivation behind the overtures has to do with the proverbial "strengthening of relations" (the quotes are mine). This is evidently diplomatic-speak for "we need to talk some more on matters of mutual concern!". Frankly, there's nothing wrong with that; the only concern is as to whether Mauritania might want to re-join ECOWAS, and that's when the eyebrows in ECOWAS might be raised collectively, and the questions might be asked: can we trust this country?.

Either way, ECOWAS President is said to have obtained a warm reception from Mauritania:

The decision to strengthen relations was reached during the 15-17 August visit to Mauritania by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, who led a high-level ECOWAS delegation.

ECOWAS and Mauritanian officials "emphasized the very strong ties which have existed for centuries between the ECOWAS countries and Mauritania – characterised by brotherhood, friendship and good neighbourliness - and reaffirmed their common determination to strengthen them for the benefit of their peoples", the statement said

It said the two parties reaffirmed their common determination to strengthen their relations in all areas of common interest.

To this end, they agreed to negotiate as soon as possible an Association Agreement, which will guide their economic and trade relations.

from:http://www.afriquenligne.fr/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6260&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=115

From the country that has only recently outlawed the antiquated crime of slavery (as per the BBC news report of 9 August this year), I wonder what "brotherhood" these two parties are talking about.

Alls well that ends...and all that...

I am personally happy to hear that Mauritanian president Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi is keen on enhancing relations, but I wonder whether it is a little less than altruistic, for despite talk of an Association Agreement between ECOWAS and the north-West african country, there is sneaky talk of the so-called and thorny Economic Partnership Agreements, that is slated for December 2007 (that is unless civil society has anything to do with that date!!):

after a working session with the Chairman of the ECOWAS Commission, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Mauritanian officials are more than convinced that the country has missed a lot of benefits for pulling out of the regional body.

Mauritanian officials have now shown their commitment to restore cooperation with ECOWAS, which obviously enables the country to tap existing trade benefits, especially the Cotonou Agreement, a 20-year trade package signed between the European Community, its member states and 77 countries of African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP). The package was signed on 23 June 2000.

from:http://www.afrol.com/articles/26450

The article, from suggesting that the EPA is a positive development (how would I conclude anything but that if it is talking about "tapping" into the "trade benefits") has also hinted that the agreement is going to go ahead!!!

The agreement serves as a platform of integration in world trade as well as gave birth to the creation of Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and the ACP countries.

Mr Chambas’ visit was seen as epitomising the wishes of both Mauritanian government and the ECOWAS, which is to promote a privileged partnership under EU-ACP negotiations through the Cotonou Agreement.

Whatever the case may be, unless civil society--and it won't yield--has anything to do with it, December 2007 could just be not only a cause celebre, but a cause to celebrate the demise of this most egregious of agreements that seeks to re-formulate Africa's efforts on regional integration!

A few months ago, Mauritania re-joined the fold of the African Union; it better not get too close to these EPAs...

With ECOBANK now in Rwanda, is ECOBANK Heading for the East African Community region?

I use "heading" specifically to provoke a debate, because let's face it: with the acceptance of Rwanda and Burundi into the East African Community, that is getting very ambitious on harmonising regional policies, it will not be long before ECOBANK, the indigenous West African regional banking group (with support from ECOWAS) will start eyeing that region.

After all, ECOBANK is not just in the ECOWAS region these days, but has comprehensively taken over the CEMAC one that comprises: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Here is the quotation from ECOBANK's Arnold Ekpe:

Our strategy is to be a pan-African bank and to continue to grow. We plan to add five other countries in 2007 and therefore we will be operating in 21 countries. In the coming years, our growth will be in Central, Eastern and Southern Africa. Central Africa is becoming very important in the continent because of its huge natural resources, such as the oil and gas in Chad, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Angola, DRC and Gabon. Our objective, as part of this expansion, is to be the leading bank in "Middle Africa", the area between North Africa and South Africa where we think we have a competitive advantage.
--from:http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6159962/Ecobank-we-are-very-positive.html

Either way, it's important for one to get that information on ECOBANK and Rwanda, which you can read here. In French, one reads:

En acquérant 90% des parts de la Banque de commerce, de développement et d'indsutrie [sic] du Rwanda (BDCI), le groupe ECOBANK étend sa présence en Afrique de l'Est.

Selon un communiqué de presse rendu public jeudi à Ouagadougou, l'installation de ECOBANK au Rwanda s'inscrit en droite ligne de la stratégie d'ensemble visant à mener des opérations en Afrique de l'Est.

Le Directeur général du Groupe bancaire, Arnold Ekpe, a assuré que ECOBANK Transnational Incorporated (ETI), la maison-mère du Groupe ECOBANK, va recapitaliser et repositionner la BCDI selon son modèle commercial "qui a déjà fait ses preuves".

from: http://www.grioo.com/info11166.html

The long and the short is that in acquiring 90% stake of the Bank of Commerce, Development and Industry (BCDI) of Rwanda, the ECOBANK Group is spreading its presence in East Africa.

The article maintains that according to a press release, the establishment of ECOBANK in Rwanda reflects the strategy of ECOBANK for that region...

It must be prefaced that the article beforehand is about ECOBANK in the Central African Republic, which is also part of the CEMAC region.

ECOWAS -- The "Mother of all Regional Economic Communities in Africa"? (So Says EAC)

At least, this was what the visiting ambassador from the East African Community, Julius Onen, to the ECOWAS Commission on 24 July said. He is reputed to have said this when he was "exposed" to the ECOWAS Operational system.

This was no ordinary visit. It was one from no less than the five-member East African Community, which recently accepted Rwanda and Burundi in its fold. What is most significant about this visit is that it goes to underscore the very essence of the regional integration I had been adavocatinig ever since I started this blog, and way back in 2004, when I set up RegionsWatch.

It was conceived of, inter alia, as a way of sharing information about different kinds of regionalisms. To see that even without my instrumentality, this is happening(!) is a very positive sign. Maybe. it's possible that the long enough you preach your word out there on the internet, the more likely someone, somewhere is going to see and pass the word on;-) Someone might be patting their back for promoting this exchange, I'm sure!

Either way, it is all-so-exciting to see such important developments, and when these are expressed through information sharing and best practices, it becomes all the more interesting...and uncanny!

Best practices on regional integration are not new; the UN's Economic Commission for Africa created the Assessing Regional Integration in Africa(ARIA) as a way of doing just that.

In my estimation, however, it had served more to use ARIA as a way of monitoring and evaluating regional integration than using it to look at best practices in regional integration.

Either way, I'm grinning like a chesire-cat at the idea that suddenly, as if by magic, it is being discussed in no less than a place like ECOWAS that has moved progressively on communicating what it does to the ECOWAS citizens--and beyond--albeit in a painfully slow manner.

A quick look at the Communications department of the ECOWAS Commission reveals some interesting ideas about where ECOWAS would like to see itself. As to the operationalisation of these ideas, one lives in hope. It is good to see that some of the following have been slated:

Activities



· The West African Bulletin

· ECOWAS in Brief

· Publication on ECOMOG

· Brochure on the new ECOWAS Commission

Coming back specifically to the context of the press release from the newly-designed ECOWAS Commission website, it is important to disclose one very important piece of information about the future of EAC-ECOWAS relations, as well as the EAC itself:

Ambassador Onen disclosed the EAC’s plans to transform into a commission and
intensify its collaboration with African States and RECs as evidenced by the
bi-annual tripartite meetings with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern
Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

I've blogged a number of times about the EAC, and quite a few times about ECOWAS.

The last comparison I made between EAC and ECOWAS yielded in this post. It was all about communication.

I'm glad to be blogging about something more concrete now. Let's keep fingers crossed for more of these positive developments!!

ASEAN is 40, So What?

Don't celebrations commence during the Jubilee year? So why, honestly, would there be any reason for the Association of South Eastern Asian Nations to start at a time when it is 40 years old?

The reason for the celebration has everything to do with ASEAN's Charter!

In my previous post, I talked about how ASEAN would have succeeded where a more-developed bloc, like the EU, would have failed. It goes deeper, though. This ASEAN Charter, predicated very much on a rules-based and human rights-based set of principles would help strengthen the 10-member grouping, and probably make it more relevant for its contemporaries. As one might expect, Myanmar is not very keen.

It might probably be very happy that, as Channelnewsasia reports:

there is no consensus on the commission's scope, how it will operate or even when it will start

Evidently, the ts have to be crossed, anad the I's dotted -- particularly because ASEAN hopes tha, with this charter, it can transform itself into "a community with economic security and socio-cultural pillars by 2015".

I am very happy to read that ASEAN is not seeking all-out to emulate the European experience, and remaining mindful that other continents, like the AU and Latin American countries also have it, albeit in limited forms:

ASEAN should understand the European experience without idolising or aping it. After all, other regional human rights mechanisms exist in the Americas and Africa but work in more limited ways. In many cases, rather than emphasising court-like procedures, the systems give ample room for political negotiation and compromise.

But, let this not sound like I am being too pig-headed about the comparative approaches I have advocated before. I simply feel that in order for any serious analysis to take place on the state of regional integration in 2007, such approaches are more than critical.

I hope that the perfect does not become the enemy of the good. Judging by comments like below, one begins to wonder:

ASEAN may, similarly, begin its human rights initiative more modestly, while holding out the possibility of stronger mechanisms in the future. Where can ASEAN best begin?

The best place to begin is in the beginning! At least a charter is being chalked; the rest of the tweaking will needs take place.

Whilst all that tweaking takes place, other articles on the web, such as those by one Bunn Nagara, of the Malaysian Star newspaper are looking at the existentialist nature of ASEAN: where has it come from, and where is it heading.

He attempts at a description of ASEAN in the light of the new development of the proposed charter here:

Encouraged by economic policy harmonisation in a globalised world, some policy harmonisation in governance seemed desirable for regional cohesiveness.

The proposed Asean charter was supposed to cover human rights, as current chair Philippines had hoped, but collective assent through consensus found only nominal approval for a proposed regional rights watchdog.

I like that: regional cohesiveness.

It's something that some of the other Southern regionalisms in the AU, for example, could begin to reflect over!

Kudos to ASEAN!

Happy Birthday, ASEAN!

Dealing with Errant Regional Members, ASEAN-Style

As ASEAN sits on the cusp of a historic change rooted in the celebration of its fortieth anniversary in August, it was slightly all-too-predictable that I would attempt to proffer my analysis of where it's going.

To be blunt: ASEAN is going places! And if its places you're asking me to be specific on, let me be just that. ASEAN is writing a charter, kind of like a constitution, that will

"set a standard of behaviour in inter-state relations, but also in how they govern internally."
from:http://www.philstar.com/index.php?News%20Flash&p=54&type=2&sec=91&aid=2007072721

As other regional integration agreements become more conscious of practising a rules-based regionalism, it was not going to be surprising that an organisation like ASEAN that is reputed to work on the basis of consensus, would want something that would be more regimented and structured.

MC Abad, the big boss at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) unit in ASEAN's Secretariat based in Jakarta, told AFP:

"It will prescribe the way forward with the consent of all ASEAN members upon adoption"

To be a bit more specific about what ASEAN is seeking to do with the Charter, it's important to bear in mind that around the discussions of a rules-based ASEAN, predicated on human rights, was going to be an implicit way of talking to some of the errant members of the forty-year-old organisation. Specifically: Myanmar:

Egoy Bans, a spokesman for the regional advocacy group Free Burma Coalition - Philippines, welcomed the rights commission, calling it a small step forward for ASEAN, which in the past repeatedly sidestepped the issue of rights abuses.

"Hopefully, once we have this rights organ under the charter, ASEAN countries can begin engaging Myanmar on the issue of human rights," Bans told AFP.

"It's all about political will. When they (ASEAN members) engage the junta, they should do so by pushing for complete reforms because the constructive engagement policy has failed," he said

Whether the policy of constructive engagement has failed or not is moot; what matters, now, is that ASEAN is movng on. As to whether they will continue to enjoy (not quite sure whether that's the right word!) the observer status of blocs like the EU and the superpower of the US in their discussions is another matter altogether. It matters, in my view, because I see an ASEAN that can go its own way without a European Union sitting in on its discussions or the US.

What is so exciting for me about this development is that ASEAN, when this succeeds, will have succeeded where the EU failed in 2005, when the Netherlands and France said "no" to a European constitution. The flip side is that ASEAN citizens might not be as aware as their European counterparts are on any potential loss of sovereignty that might be accrued, as it were, from an ASEAN Charter.

Either way, when passed, the bar will have been set for other regionalisms to follow. I'm rather convinced that the eight-member SAARC, being the closest regional integration agreement to ASEAN, might be following developments quite closely. If not, it better!

Sporadic Posting for a while

We may have passed the middle of the year already, and every one might have forgotten how close to Christmas we are all getting. I raise this issue, because it strikes me every day, off-late, that time is running out for the numerous things we want to do.

 

Blogging offers a grand escape from the realities of life, and I am not about to stop it soon.

 

Suffice-to-say, whether it's about Venezuela getting goose-bumps from the friction of leaving MERCOSUR for a better alternative; me getting late with the writing of my novel; appreciating beautiful parts of Accra by way of pictures I have taken--but not yet posted--or pontificating about some of the challenges of living and working in my ever-so-beautiful country of Ghana, I shall blog about it.

 

Just that: next week, as this week has proved to be, I shall be a bit busy.

 

Internet provision that has remained this side of sporadic, coupled with a battle against viruses--both computer-related and otherwise--has been the bane of my blogging, but I shall definitely recover the week of the 23rd of July.

 

You can for sure expect more soapboxing from then!

 

have a good weekend!
 

You Can Bank on Something Big Happening in MERCOSUR!

There is something rather peculiar about the calibre of political leaders in Latin America that I don not find on the continent of Africa.

Somehow, it's that ability to look beyond the handouts of the IMF and the neoliberal policies that have afflicted them, and come out with a vision that is people-centred. When Africans, especially the South Africans, are keen to espouse the notion of NEPAD, and contemporraneously and ineluctably link it with the integration of Africa, somehow, somewhere, these Latin American leaders are turning agianst this type of Pavlovian attachment to what is, frankly in my view, a new colonialism, predicated on financial ties.

It is no surprise therefore to see that there's something big coming from Latin America again--specifically the MERCOSUR region.

The Bank of the South--described as "an ambitious and strategic gambit[sic--gamble??] in regional integration"--is going to radically transform how regional integration is done in that region. It only had to be the idea of the more progressive of the MERCOSUR countries--Venezuela and Argentina.

Despite a hitch between these two countries in a joint proposal against the Ecuadorians in the conception of the Bank of the South, it is clear that this Bank is going to deliver. IT is ambitious, without a doubt, and has vision unmatched in the region thus far.

In an explicit attempt to divest itself of the IMF/WB and other neoliberal financial policies, this bank, aiming to start operations in 2008, has five key characteristics:

1. bank's clients should not be large corporations;

2. rather it should give loans "to the public sector, to small producers, to local communities, to municipalities, and to states or provinces." (Toussaint)

3.Finally the document asserts that BoS should not be a behemoth like the World Bank with its 13,000 employees,

4. it should account for operations and activities on an annual basis.

5. It required an annual public debate for the bank to explain its activities to the citizenry whose taxes it used

Chile and Uruguay are absent from the debate on the BoS on account of their proximity to the US, deemed not just antagonistic, but which policies are necessarily anathema to the progressive vision of the BoS.

It was going to be evident the US would complain about a project like this. If there have been muted complaints, it's probably because Rice and her cohorts are too busy trying to carve Africa, EU-style, by way of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act Forum due in Accra from 16 July this year (next week).

Either way, the Bank of the South is going to be reclaiming the state:

the Bank of the South can play a decisive role in reuniting a region divided by decades of neoliberalism. To implement the neoliberal model, its main beneficiaries—the financial institutions and monopolistic corporations—have weakened or dismantled the power of the nation state. It may be that one of the primary tasks of the BoS could be rebuilding state control and regulations
from:http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/2852.cfm

It's important to just touch very briefly on how MERCOSUR is doing things, If we take the example of the BoS, we read that:

Energy will be one of the first priorities of the new bank and one of its first projects will be to finance the proposed South American Gas Pipeline, which will link Venezuela with Argentina, passing through Brazil. This will be a real regional integration project because the gas transport is oriented toward regional economic development as opposed to exporting it to markets in the developed world.

I couldn't help but shake my head in wonderment about the--yet again--Pavlovian response by ECOWAS countries towards the West African Gas Pipeline, which has CHEVRON owning a stake. Euphemistically speaking, it is the project manager.

Honestly, can ECOWAS countries not manage their own ECOWAS gas pipeline? Perhaps, it's time to start taking cue from our MERCOSUR friends!

Venezuela' s Looking at the MERCOSUR Fine Print...

Grandiloquent pronouncements against imperialism nothwithstanding, it is very easy to think of Chavez as a deluded leader who only goes to confirm that socialism is going the way of the dodo. Seriously speaking, let's face it, Chavez might attract "right-wing" criticism, but he certainly has an idea about how to bring in the role of the state. Perhaps refusing to renew the operating license for RCTV, a private Venezuelan television station may have attracted cacophony among the right-wingers who feel it spells a categorical loss of free speech. However, no-one said he had to be perfect.

Today, sounds like he's a marked man. He's particularly irked by the right-wingers of the Brazilian and Uruguay camp who feel he has little to offer beyond pronouncements of imperialism left, right, and centre. Chavez himself believes:

Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) must be reformulated, Chavez insists, since both are marked by Capitalism and fierce competition.

from: http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=74234

He's currently in Iran, where he is said to have made the arguments above. Now, interestingly, if Venezuela choses to rescind his decision to join MERCOSUR, he is ready to join ALBA:

"If the Brazilian Right is stronger than the idea of integration, then we will withdraw from Mercosur ... our model is one of integration and we believe in it deeply and it is called the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA)."

With Rwanda and Burundi having joined the East African Community on 1 July from the quasi-defunct Economic Community of Central African States(ECCAS), it just goes, in my view, to underscore how the plethora of regional economic communities offer necessary comparative advantages--both economic and otherwise--to countries. Without a harmonisation, it is evident that countries might start withdrawing and crossing the carpet, as it were, whenever a dispute arises.

In the specific context of the African Union government, which radio reports indicate, at the time of writing, that the "gradualists" are taking the day, it brings into sharp relief the utmost importance of fine-tuning and harmonising the RECS so as to avoid situations like this one befalling Chavez and Venezuela.

Towards a borderless ECOWAS by 2020?

Even when there appears to be grandiloquent discussions on the creation of an African Union government by 2025, the West African regional grouping of Ecowas is talking about a borderless West Africa by 2020.

Once again, this raises the question of why so far a date? Last week's debate at Ghana's Teacher's Hall raised the issue of "instantists"; "rapidists", and "gradualists", in my view, polarising the issue greatly.

These classifications suggest that there are those, respectively, that want to pursue AU government instantly, rapidly, and gradually.

For ECOWAS leaders meeting at the 32nd summit in Abuja, I suspect those that had proposed the date of 2020 might have fallen prey to such classifications. The question is: how helpful are these are moving the issue of comprehensive integration forward? Comprehensive, because, in my view, even if there's an unbearable lightness of being West African, I think ECOWAS has not done a bad job.

Elsewhere in the Voice of America coverage of the summit, the article touches on the right of residence:

problems are still plaguing the plan. For instance, under a current provision, residents of ECOWAS member states can live in another member state for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa, but there is no provision for long-term residence.

Before this explanation, rationale is given of why ECOWAS is looking for a borderless West Africa:

The purpose of a border-free zone, first thought of by ECOWAS in the 1980s, is to allow the free movement of goods and people throughout the zone.

It is important to note that this meeting was a landmark one, as it saw the swearing in of Ghanaian lawyer Dr.Mohammed Ibn Chambas as the de facto President of the heretofore ECOWAS Commission, as well as adoption of interim report of the Commission for 2007, which stated:

the economy of the sub-region recorded a GDP growth of 6.1 percent in 2006 as against 5.5 percent in 2005, observing however, that the high prices of petroleum products posed a challenge for the economies of individual states

Please find above the organigramme of the new commission, which I culled from the newly-designed ECOWAS website.

From Rwanda & Burundi With Love...

...to the East African Community!

Well, we knew it was in the works...to the extent that Rwanda would leave the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) at an Eccas inter-ministerial meeting in Brazzaville, Congo two weeks ago.

In leaving, this is what the Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister would say:

"The regional economic communities are in the process of creating free trade zones, a common market, monetary unions and eventually political federations which are evolving at different speeds, and puts us in a very difficult situation of being tugged in separate directions"

Rwnada expressed the desire to hold onto joining the SADC region just yet, and has, as we see here, proceeded in its joining of EAC.

To be fair, it makes sense for Rwanda to toe this line, for in joining the performing EAC, the once-genocide-torn country will not only be increasing the regional population to 115 million people, but be joining a regional bloc that is making strides.

The article maintains that some of the institutions both Burundi and Rwanda will benefit from joining are:

the East African Court of Justice;

the East African Legislative Assembly

the Secretariat

Defence Pact

, including...

the Inter-University Council for East Africa and sustainable development of the Lake Victoria basin

There are many other advantages besides this, such as on foreign policy and visa applications:

In respect to foreign policy, the five member states will be able to take a common stand at international fora and assist each other in countries where they do not have diplomatic missions. This entails that any of the five member states can appoint one mission to represent their interests abroad.

Nationals from the five countries will also be able to have visa applications processed in any of the missions representing the region.

With regard to the East African political federation, the consultative process which has been going on in the three partner states, is expected to extend to Rwanda and Burundi. A federal president and parliament is expected in 2013

There are, quite naturally, fears about Rwanda and Burundi joining the EAC, and it has mostly to do with loss of sovereignty.

Either way, the EAC is no longer a three-member bloc, but a fully-fledged five-member one. At least, from 1 July, when the AU Summit will also be in process, here, in Accra.

Arab League Overtures to the African Union?

Cash-strapped AU peacekeepers are to receive a boost of $1m from no less than the Arab League towards the AU's peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

It does not matter, in my view, that Somalia is a member of the Arab League--therefore the imperative impelling the Arab League to act; I think that its dedicating itself to the African Union, and by extension, regional cooperation by this substantial shot-in-the-arm is a reflection of its desire to engage (proactively), which is always a good thing!

To my Visitor from Richmond, Virginia: Sierra Leone Belongs to Which RECS?

Hi, you wanted to know which regional organisations Sierra Leone belong to. You arrived at my site. I don't know whether you got your answers, but here it is:

Sierra Leone is member of:

African Union (AU)

African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP)

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

Mano River Union (MRU)

Organisation of African Unity (OAU) African Union

Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC)

Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD)

Hope this helps!

REGIONAL INTEGRATION MONTH!!-->Changing SAARC...without Being Repetitive!

If my initial impressions over SAARC in this blog is anything to go by, you might have gone away feeling that I wasn't too impressed with SAARC. Truth be told, it's less about me being impressed and more being concerned about the lackadaisical debates going on around SAARC and its regional integration of the South Asian countries.

A recent article I came across yesterday, entitled "Changing SAARC: Hopes for a better South Asia" is so platitudinous it's not funny.

Let's first begin by addressing the structure of the article. It starts off discussing the age-old argument -- almost to the death -- about the size of India overshadowing and eclipsing the SAARC regional integration project. Judge for yourself:

1. New Delhi’s gigantic size in terms of natural and human resources, military capability and an emerging economic power creates apprehension of its future role in SAARC, in the minds of other constituents.

2. The growing importance of India in both inter regional and international field as a major actor in terms of economic and military capability appears to have negative consequences in the psychology of other SAARC member countries

3. Other member states look at India suspiciously because of its elephantine size in terms of its population, resources, economy, and its potential to act as a global economic and strategic power

Alright, already! I think we get the picture that India is a big country. It's "elephantine"; it's "gigantic". Point taken.

Now, where's your next argument? That SAARC has matured:

The attainment of the maturity of SAARC is reflected from the fact that it has expanded itself by admitting Afghanistan as the eighth member state and giving China, South Korea and Japan observer status.

But, later in the article, do I sense a contradiction?

SAARC is still very far from maturing as a regional grouping.

So, which is it: is SAARC maturing--or not?

There is the nice historical overview--as demanded by articles on regional integration, tracing the history--from its inception (1985) to now, and occasionally realising that good mathematics is de rigeur:

1. In 22 years-13 summits, not encouraging...

2. Set up in 1985, SAARC has passed its disturbing teen phase and now in 2007, April 3-4 it touched 22 years;

In my view, any discussion on regional integration that divorces any type of rumination, or thinking, on institutions that can facilitate that integration, such as a Central Bank, or a Parliament is an integration project that is not very serious. Declarations on trade and customs union are all very good, but the latter is a key element in getting citizens of SAARC to feel they are comprehensively SAARC citizens.

My personal view is candid: it's an interesting article for both the general and more informed follower of regional integration, but it lacks depth for one simple reason: it is lukewarm in its aspirations of where SAARC should be going.

Even as an African, I should have felt agitated, energised about the developments goingon in the region--but I wasn't, because as much as it is true that

The focus of SAARC should be on implementing collaborative projects.

, the focus should, in my humble view, not just be about implementation. It should be about dedication and commitment to the precepts of regional integration in SAARC, which goes beyond poverty-reduction.

It should also be about conceiving of a South Asian Community, as expressed in today's Pakistan article from Online Pakistan about India seeing that it has a "a greater regional responsibility".

Finally, the myopia of seeing the EU and ASEAN as the only precursors of regional integration should go. South Asia should be looking at complementing its integration project with exchanges from the African Union and its regional economic communities. For the conflict in Kashmir, SAARC could look at how ECOWAS resolved its conflicts in the sub-region, and still managed to agree to push on regional protocols.

Reflections on Regional Integration(II/III): COMESA Moves Forward...Pan-African Integration?

As Africa sits a day or two away from the 34th celebration of efforts at African unity, it becomes very timely that positive and constructive decisions would have taken place in Kenya at the 12th COMESA Summit.

The two-day meeting has yielded some very positive outcomes, which include:

the approval of a Common External Tariff(CET), which paves the way for the transformation of a FTA into a unified Customs Union in 2008

the exhortation by Kenyan premier Kibaki for COMESA to "reach out to regional economic blocs such as the EAC and SADC to consolidate integration"

the realisation that there need to be common understanding and positions in regional trade negotiations critical to a successful engagement with the regional blocs

Haven't we been here before? What of the African Economic Community? Is that not supposed to facilitate outreach towards the other regional blocs in Africa.

My understanding had always been that that would be the framework. Anything else is this side of reinventing the wheel, when it's clearly fixed on a timeline, and already in motion.

COMESA will be 13 years this December, and as is reputed to be the biggest African regional grouping in the sense that it groups

20 countries with about 400 million people and a combined gross domestic product in excess of 180 billion U.S. dollars.

Its members are Angola, Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Libya, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.



That's basically encompassing quite some countries from IGAD; COMESA; SADC and EAC countries. Already an over-lapping is inevitable, as has been discussed several times at international fora, and so I would have found it very interesting to have seen some talk of harmonising the over-lapping.

Failing that, the outreach that Kibaki talks about is all well and good, but how would that be operationalised, in the sense that how would it work practically without interfering with existing mechanisms? Would it come in the form of SADC-COMESA/SADC-EAC/IGAD-EAC/IGAD-SADC/etc percolations, expressed through a bilateral arrangement predicated on economics and trade, or something else? Maybe cultural? Maybe political.

It is clear that on regional integration in Africa, much needs to be done. There is talk that the next AU summit to be held here in Accra, Ghana, will discuss the putative United States of Africa. It promises to be an event worth monitoring, and RegionsWatch shall definitely be there to give you some insights.

Over and beyond that, though, it is very interestings--albeit predictable--that Kenya should be talking about a regional integration strategy predicated on conflict prevention and conflict resolution. That's an idea that's been chewed and spat out several times in West Africa, and I do hope Kenya will consider some liasing with ECOWAS on this.

This is because, as many know about the conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone, these conflicts in the sub-region compelled the region to beef up its knowledge and experience on conflict, to the extent of establishing centres on the training of conflict prevention, such as the Ghana-based Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre.

All that said, I maintained Kenya's decision is "predictable", because, as it explained some posts ago, the facilitation of regional security is an important pillar in the strategy for Kenya's perspective on regional integration. Important, because it sees, for example, the accession of Rwanda and Burundi into the East African Community as a way of ensuring that possible inter-necine conflicts originating from those two countries are seriously clamped down on. If the regional security imperative is in place, it will prevent any possible spillovers into the region, of which Kenya is part of.

Examples of Kenya having been the honest broker is what Vice President Moody Awori listed:

Kenya which successful[ly] mediated Somalia and Sudan peace processes two years ago will continue to spearhead regional conflict resolution efforts to bring peace and stability in the region to promote trade and investment

He further noted:

"Kenya's commitment to proactive engagement in seeking security and stability in the region is informed by the essence for an environment that can facilitate our people to engage in both international and trans-border trade which is a prerequisite to our quest for economic development,"

He couldn't have said it better. To boot, he compounds all this heavy talk by arguing what COMESA should begin to do as far as conflict prevention and management is concerned:

COMESA should streamline its program of conflict prevention in its trade regimes with the aim of avoiding trade and investment related conflicts

Who needs the EU when Africans themselves can make spurious ties to their regional integration?

How a program of conflict prevention and management can be streamlined with trade and investment is beyond me.

Any takers?

Have a good AU day!

Reflections on Regional Integration(I)

It's Africa Union Day this Friday 25th May. As such, it is celebrated as a holiday in all AU countries.

In preparation for that celebration I deemed it incumbent on my part to do some reflection on how far regional integration has gone on the continent, by way of what the media is writing about it.

The first article I came across, entitled African integration can't skip its five powerhouses is an interesting article that spends less time talking about how and why there are five powerhouses, which actually boils down to four: South Africa; Democratic Republic of Congo; Sudan; Nigeria.

This, in theory, is not a bad idea, but the writer does little justice to the explanation as to why these are the ocuntries except to generally say they have:

big populations

(massive) economic resources

status as political and economic hub(s)

massive unexploited resources

sizeable skilled knowledge population

All in all, if it's not big, it's big and bad; or big and badly managed--except when it's South Africa, which he describes as:

South Africa is Africa`s powerhouse in terms of industrial development and technologically skilled population.

With its population standing at over 40 million and its relatively pronounced international posture, South Africa is a force to reckon with in the continent and can, therefore, help the continent look for viable integration solutions.

What?

Since when has South Africa been instrumental in the resolution of erstwhile conflicts in, say, the ECOWAS sub-region? Have we forgotten that it was Ghana's premier Kwame Nkrumah that was even, as his detractors maintain, helping fight apartheid, whilst along with Nasser, and others spearheaded what was then the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which has evolved to become the African Union?

Either way, my major point is the aggrandizement of South Africa as a country that has the ideas and tools for how African integration can be done is not just spurious and pie-in-the-sky, but ridiculous. It is a rare "regional integrationist" that should advance such a notion, without having an agenda of sucking up to the powerhouse of the SADC region.

The elaboration of Nigeria, for example, is so poor and shoddy it's not funny. Little time is spent on explaining why it is the political and economic hub of West Africa. Were the author to be pressed, I am sure he would first cite the size of the population (140 million), and conveniently forget that Nigeria has a precedent in being the only ECOWAS country to have launched a satellite!

And much more besides. But in the interests of time, let me just press on.

I have talked about the IGAD country Sudan before, and concede very much it has a challenge of reconciling its oil-rich status with economic development. I would have expected this article to have transcended the issue of Darfur a bit and explained what some of the constraints on the country are.

DRC is a good point, but, yet again, little explanation. It is only South Africa that glows.

In his discussion of the regional powerhouses (the "regional" are mine), he mentions SADC; ECOWAS; COMESA. I would have expected a bit more about the Africa Economic Community, which the UN's regional commission of Africa, UNECA, elaborates on here:

First of all, the Africa Economic Community: "article 6 of the Treaty lays down a timetable for the process of integration, or the creation of Africa Economic Community (AEC) to be carried out over a period of 34 years (1994-2027), in 6 different stages of different duration".

Africa is making some progress in its attempts to integrate. However, the results are mixed. Notable progress has been made in the areas of trade, communications, macroeconomic policies, and transportation. The West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) have all made significant progress in trade liberalization and facilitation. In the area of free movement of people, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has made remarkable strides. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) have progressed in the area of infrastructure. For peace and security, ECOWAS and SADC have made commendable.
from:http://www.uneca.org/integration/numero1/opinion.asp

If we backtrack just a bit, we see that the regional blocs mentioned under the ambit of the AEC are: ECOWAS; SADC; UEMOA; COMESA; EAC. I would agree with the UNECA that these are the five regional powerhouses. Though, I find UEMOA less reliable in terms of grand regional integration projects, it is true that as far as economic regional integration goes, by way of the CFA, it is way up there.

Suffice-to-say, our learned reporter needs to do some more research!

People Power Through Mercosur Parliament?

You have got to give it to the Latin Americans. When it comes to people power, they certainly have got it! Remember what happened with the Free Trade Area of the Americas(FTAA), which was scheduled to take off in 2005? It was in Brussels, in 2002, that I started writing about the FTAA, and it certainly looked like it was going to happen.

But the Latin Americans got big on people power--and used it to good effect. In Wikipedia, description of the FTAA is "proposed". Never to have happened. A flop.

Unlike the Latin Americans, the AU countries and their relations, by way of the ACP Group, with the EU on the EPAs continues apace as if regional integration à la européen would be the best transplant for the African continent.

It seems like the Africans haven't quite gotten round to the effect of people power in the way our Latin American friends have. So sophisticated they appear to be in this regard that they have, as an article maintains, considered the:

...initiative to implement mechanisms of people's participation in the Parliament of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) similar to the street parliamentarianism in Venezuela

Is it any surprise that it is Venezuela that is proposing this idea?

The mind boggles;-)

Jamaica Pooh-Poohs the CARICOM Special Visa; Whither ECLAC?

In a post reminiscent of this one, I am re-visiting the issue of the CARICOM Special visa for the very fact that yesterday was the day that visa "ended".

Meaning that now, countries like CARICOM-member Jamaica will...

"...revert to its original national laws and policies as they relate to immigration, customs and other measures which were temporarily suspended for the hosting of the CWC 2007 games,"

At least, so said a ministry coming from the Ministry of National Security.

It further

instructed visitors to check with their respective country authorities, and or their diplomatic and or consular offices to ascertain if they are required to have a national visa to enter the particular country
from:http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070516/lead/lead4.html

I am not very sure about how Jamaica sees itself ensconced within the CARICOM region as a merely tourist destination, but for sure, it has issues about retaining the visa, and one of them is this:

Jamaica has always been talking about diversifying, that we don't put our eggs in one basket," he said. "Now the basket that is affected is the same one that requires the CARICOM visa. So, rather than encouraging a developing market, the CARICOM visa will have the opposite effect of driving that market to other places that will not have such a visa requirement."

I can understand that even if other members of CARICOM are in favour of the idea, it could not be extended or mooted just like that. There will, in fact, be a meeting in July in Barbados--not necessarily to discuss this issue. However, I am sensing that if other member states feel compelled to raise the issue, then why not.

This development in the CARICOM region might seem odd to the casual observer like myself who feels that CARICOM is a region that has some similarities with regions like the West African one of ECOWAS. I couldn't be more wrong, for this is one of the things that underscores the importance of comparative studies of regional integration, which serve to help people get round in their mind what elements of a regional integration agreement can be emulated, or extrapolated to another one.

The Belgium-based United Nations Univeristy's UNU-CRIS does a great job in reminding us of the importance of regional integration in the rapidly-changing landscape of international relations. It asks five major questions:

We are a research and training programme of the United Nations University that is driven by the following questions:

Question 1: What is happening in the world - Past, present and future - with regard to regional integration processes?
Question 2: What governance structures are emerging through regional integration?
Question 3: How can regional integration contribute to peace and human security in the framework of the UN?
Question 4: How can regional integration contribute to the development of LDCs?
Question 5: How do people and societies deal with regional integration?

Finally, I believe that in asking those questions, we can begin to advance on the theory and practice of regional integration that is people-centred, as well as one that comprehensively bridges the disconnect that is perceived to exist between regional economic communities and the United Nations.

I look forward to the day when in the discussion of CARICOM, there is an ineluctable, or inevitable, involvement of the central role of the UN's regional commission for that region, ECLAC.

Heads Up! What's the EU Admitting to the East African Community?

In my view, the EAC is the bomb! It's got a good thing going, what with a language that is unique to the countries of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania; coupled with a culture equally unique to them.

Linguistic barriers are rarely a problem, though I am beginning to wonder what the implications of Rwanda and Burundi joining them might be. It's down to one thing, really, and that's regional security.

I am one of those who espouse the philosophy that my security is your security. In short, security is re-inforcing. It therefore stands to reason why the EAC would like to admit Rwanda and its close neighbour into the community. As the Secretary-General of EAC Mwapachu said in this article:

`If we left out these people (Burundi and Rwanda), we will fuel more conflicts and political instabilities. The best approach is to embrace them to enhance durable peace and political stability,` said Mwapachu.

IPP Executive Chairman, Reginald Mengi, could not agree more with EAC boss when he said sidelining Rwanda and Burundi would not solve security-related problems in the region.

Back to the reason why the EU is implicated in here at all, and we find that it's to do with the earth-shattering statement (fact, I would say), that:

"I mention this to illustrate that there is nothing such as a model of good practice in political or economic integration,"

These were the words of the EU Ambassador to Dar Es Salaam, Baan, speaking at the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology. He further intoned:

I am not revealing secrets if I admit that EU achievements made in the first fifty years came with uncertainties and hesitations and occasionally through painful arguments and recriminations` he said.

I am glad some member of the EU is admitting that their integration project is not the best. I am feeling that Andrew Hurrell is seriously vindicated.

And why wouldn't he? Each region should aspire to build its integration project the best manner possible, witout waiting for, say, an Economic Partnership Agreement that would provide spurious beneficial effects for the Africa, coupled with the dubious claim of facilitating Africa's already-complex regional integration efforts!

Sporadic Posting

A critical and progressive development in my personal life has spawned a period of sporadic posting.

Truth is I shall be away from my computer for the better part of this week, so I hope you'll forgive me when I say I shall most definitely be monitoring the regional integration landscape like a hawk!:-)

Till the next post!

(hopefully, Monday!)

Happy watching!

(Suffice to say, MERCOSUR must have already opened its parliament, and ECOWAS is big, news-wise in the sense that Malians are encouraging ECOWAS anglophone countries to fast-track integration as regards the ECO, the common currency)

The Arab World, through GCC, Gets Serious with MERCOSUR

Looks like Mercosur is hitting it big off-late. First, it's going to be opening its parliament this month. Now, we're getting fresh news that the Arab world that had heretofore been rather lethargic on expressing itself in collaboration with other regional blocs, is now entertaining no less than a free trade area that will be completed by June with MERCOSUR.

Oh baby.

This is good stuff for the Gulf Cooperation Council that rarely features in this part of the world:

the free trade agreement between the Mercosur and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) should be concluded up to the end of June of this year. The GCC includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman. This week the Emirates were visited by one of the presidents of the Mercosur, the Uruguayan Tabaré Vasquez.

Thankfully, the leitmotiv behind this alliance is not one solely predicated on free trade; there is talk about other things, too:

Another point presented by the secretary general at the Arab Chamber was the integration of productive chains within the bloc, especially in the automotive, energy and petrochemical industry sectors. "It is not enough just to seek trade, it is also necessary to seek productive integration, otherwise there may be an imbalance in exports and imports," he declared

Wow. There's a turn-up for the books: not enough just to seek trade!

The secretary general of the Arab Chamber is talking about productive integration.

That's certainly one to look out for! With MERCOSUR and its associated countries talking about energy, this type of integration is probably a trend that needs to be looked out for...

good weekend!

Whither the European Union? Free-Trader, Egalitarian...or Hypocrite?

The EU is going places--or at least that's what the EU would like its citizens to think. That is, judging by an opinion piece by a lawyer who now works in the financial services.

She (I presume) writes an interesting piece about the EU, and looks at the following issues:

Withdrawing from the EU will put businesses in disadvantageous positions in Europe

Inconvenience caused to tourists and migrants

Withdrawal will distort the market

Member states should not enjoy benefits of the EU without facing drawbacks

We know the writer is a free-trader--and there's nothing wrong with that if that's what gets your kicks--because of the manner in which she castigates the attempt by the EU to assume an "egalitarian" EU predicated on a single market. She writes:

With the egalitarian ideology at its core, the EU is heading in a direction that is opposite its original destination. The aim of the EU officials is to create a collective block and to build a high fortress around it. That block will hamper the growth of Europe. Instead of truly fostering free trade, EU regulations and directives hold back those who endeavor to progress; indeed such efforts are frowned upon.

This is so ironic it's not funny. If you look at the steely attempts by the European Union and its arm-twisting of countries of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States to comply with its version of regional integration à l'Africaine, you could arrive at the conclusion that the EU is ferociously free-trade.

If you look at attempts by civil society organisations setting up websites, such as EPA Watch; specifically to monitor the obfuscatory tactics deployed by the EU in its relations with African countries, you begin to wonder whether a little hypocrisy is in the offing.

So when the writer finally writes:

It is one thing to devise policies founded on egalitarianism but quite another to implement them as if they are based on the ideas of free exchange.
from:http://www.mises.org/story/2536

I begin to ask myself is it not time to question what the EU does and says in theory, and practice?

Or is the EU pulling a very fast one on some of us?