ARTICLE - PUSH FOR ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

Haiti pushes for greater economic integration
(Trinidad & Tobago Guardian) - By Wesley Gibbings

Executive Director of the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce of Florida, Francois Guillaume Jr. Haitian businesses are hoping that even as there is a sustained focus by Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries on reconstruction and rehabilitation, following last year’s devastating earthquake there, the broader goal of economic integration with the region should not be forgotten, particularly as it relates to the Caricom Single Market.

This, according to Executive Director of the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce of Florida, Francois Guillaume Jr, must include broadening provisions for the free movement of Haitian nationals within the region and re-focusing the integration movement to address what he describes as issues of “incompatibility.” But, the current rehabilitation project is already a tall order and Caricom countries are signalling that things should proceed one step at a time. For example, business visa requirements have been relaxed, but Haitian nationals, including persons covered by special Caricom provisions for specified work categories still require visas to travel to countries within the regional grouping.

The broader challenge was encapsulated by Trade and Industry Minister, Stephen Cadiz, when he addressed last week’s Caribbean Construction Forum in Port of Spain. Cadiz, incidentally, apologised for the fact that Haitians attending the Forum needed to pay a TT$400 visa waiver fee before entering the country. “The (Haiti) reconstruction effort,” the minister said, “is not a matter of returning to the pre-disaster state of affairs, but rather moving the economy onto a more sustainable path, perhaps one that will allow the country to achieve its goal of becoming an emerging nation by 2030.”

Haitian businessmen to benefit
Former Caricom Assistant Secretary-General, Byron Blake, who currently serves as economic advisor in the Office of the Caricom Special Representative for Haiti, also last week spoke of the “qualitative” difference between regional assistance to Haiti and the sometimes faltering wave of international aid. The difference, he appeared to suggest, was that Caricom private sector and official assistance would have more than a fleeting interest in long-term development and would essentially entail lasting networks of private sector partnerships.

This has arisen as a primary objective of the US$1 billion Caricom Special Fund for Private Sector Investment on Haiti launched at the Caricom Inter-Sessional Meeting in Guyana in February. Haiti itself gave the Fund a kick-start with US$3 million. But while no one in Haiti can or will sneeze at good intentions, there is hope that the Caricom-led initiatives will gain greater traction within the Haitian business community, especially as they relate to the broader goal of a single market to which the country has signed on. Guillaume told the Guardian, for example that while both the Haitian government and the county’s private sector have drafted reconstruction and sustainable development plans for Haiti, “there’s no emphasis in any of these plans, for greater cooperation with Caricom countries as a strategy for economic development.”

“To be honest,” he said. “I have noticed that while the average business person in Haiti …hears and even sees Caricom officials from time to time, he or she has no clue of the economic implications of Haiti’s adhesion to Caricom.” He said the Haitian private sector appeared not to have been a part of the “single market discussions.” “That is not to say that there’s no business going on between Haitian businessmen and other Caribbean businessmen… far from it,” he added.

“It is only now that there seems to be an interest in knowing how Haiti’s membership to Caricom can benefit Haitian businessmen.” He said the opportunities were abundant. “Besides mangoes, light manufactures, plant oils, cocoa and coffee exports that Haiti is currently known to be exporting, there are lots of other untapped raw resources I see flowing towards Caricom,” Guillaume said. Guillaume, a narrow survivor of the January 2010 quake, said in the future Haiti can become the place to go for various types of aggregates used for manufacturing of plastics as well as pharmaceutical products, marble and organic foods.

The Peace Dividend Trust, an international NGO, is currently developing a database of functional businesses in Haiti as part of its Peace Dividend Marketplace Haiti (PDM-H) project, funded by the Canadian government. Not surprisingly the largest and most resilient sector of the Haitian economy is in the area of Construction and Renovation, which accounts for over 21 per cent of functioning businesses in the country, according to the PHM-H Haiti Building Markets Portal.

Food and beverage businesses account for 7 per cent; automotive 6 per cent, business and consulting services 5 per cent which is the same level for most of the important sectors including health, primary industry (including agriculture and fisheries) and heavy equipment. The Caricom Special Fund specifically targets investments by Caricom countries in the reconstruction effort. Businesses, according to Caricom Special Representative on Haiti, former Jamaica prime minister, PJ Patterson, will be granted loans of up to US$20 million to invest in development projects in Haiti.

Guillaume however believes movement of the factors of production should not be restricted to finance and special categories of persons. “It is not possible to have a thriving regional economic bloc without the free movement of all its citizens,” he argued. “This free movement is what ensures the equilibrium between an area’s economic growth due to its production and cost efficiency, and its additional need for labour.”

He however said he can “understand how problematic it would be if border restrictions were lifted which may prompt a mass Haiti exodus in the short term.” “This fear is however a symptom of Haiti’s incompatibility with Caricom,” Guillaume added. “Before the requirement of free movement of all citizens within a regional economic bloc, there are other benchmarks and requirements that all countries must abide by—but we skipped that part and expect the rest to fall into place …unrealistic.”