Port of Spain Not Good Candidate for FTAA Secretariat

“A King, realizing his incompetence can either delegate or abdicate his duties. A father can do neither. If only sons could see the paradox, they would understand the dilemma.” [Marlene Dietrich – American Actress 1901 – 1992].

King or father, I refer not to Patrick Manning. At least not yet anyway! There has been a concerted effort to deceive us by those who have been entrusted with our protection, not security and safety but of our economic interests and our right to achieve peace, prosperity and progress.

I refer to the incompetence, the deceit and the downright negligence of Kenneth Valley, Minister of Trade and Industry and heir apparent to Prime Minister Patrick Manning. Since the beginning of his second incarnation as Minister of Trade and Industry, Ken Valley, prompted willingly by his just as incompetent leader has been campaigning for Port of Spain to be the host city to the Secretariat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas [FTAA]. In addition to submitting Port of Spain’s bid, this Minister produced and executed a glitzy public relations campaign, spending millions of dollars and for what?

Come what may [and I have explained this in a prior column], Port of Spain will never be given the honour of being the host city. The reasons are numerous, but not the focus of this week’s article.

I, the author of this document, being of sound mind and body, knowledgeable about the facts of this case, do hereby submit on behalf of the people of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago that Ken Valley resign as Minister of Trade and Industry forthwith, given his non- performance and abysmal failure as Minister hitherto.

“I am, as I’ve said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.” [Billy Joel – American Singer b. 1949]. This is so true, and if you compare, me for example with Ken Valley, he makes me look like a star boy! My case against Minister Valley begins during his first incarnation as Trade Minister in the Manning Administration of the early 1990s. Throw your minds back to the then privatization attempt of B.W.I.A. and the Edward Acker deal! What a fiasco that was and B.W.I.A. continues to fail again under his stewardship.

Then, we had this government and Minister lobbying hard for the Association of Caribbean States Secretariat to be based in Port of Spain, using much the same arguments as for the FTAA. What tangible benefits have been accrued by the people of Trinidad and Tobago since the establishment of the ACS Secretariat?

More recently, what has the Minister to say about the apparent failure of the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards to have adequate systems in place for record keeping, not to mention the 20 Certificates of Inspection [CIO] books that have gone missing containing 1000 Certificates on “new” foreign used tires? What about the fact that the big fire in Port of Spain a few weeks ago was referred to as a “blip” by the Minister? The most outstanding failure of the Minister though was his approach to the FTAA!

The priorities of this government were all wrong. A distorted focus on the situation led the Minister in all the wrong directions. First of all, the Secretariat was never high on the agenda at the Trade Negotiating Committee level because the members were concentrating on trade issues. My interaction with the Brazilian and American authorities in particular led me to believe that since November 2003, the decision on the Secretariat was a long way off. In fact, the negotiations have since broken down to the extent that we now wonder if the FTAA will come into existence during our life time. We already have President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva of Brazil on the record as saying that the FTAA is on the back burner as far as Brazil is concerned. Added to this the fact that President George W. Bush’s point man in these negotiations, Ambassador Robert Zoellick has been bumped up from being the United States Trade Representative to Deputy Secretary of State, second to Dr. Condeleesa Rice [a very close confidante of the President].

What’s next for Minister Valley’s precious Secretariat? After all his public relations gimmickry, its dead in the water until the stalled talks gets going again. The Minister would have been well advised to educate the population and the business community in particular as to the benefits and pitfalls of the FTAA. What the Minister should have been telling people is that small farmers and business people from developing countries such as ours will be put at an even greater risk as our markets are opened up to the United States markets that are characterized by their high levels of productivity, technological advantages, economies of scale and enormous government subsidies in areas such as agriculture.

Why have the FTAA negotiations broken down? Going into the Miami Round [November 2003], there was strong disagreement between the United States and Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela over the refusal of the developing three to give into the ambitious demands of the U.S. to go beyond the current WTO agreement in the areas of intellectual property, government procurement, competition policy and investment policy, whilst simultaneously maintaining their high level of agriculture subsidies in the U.S. domestic market.

The negotiations headed down an unpredictable path bringing about what is now referred to as “FTAA-Lite.” In stark contrast to previous agreement strategies that bound all member countries to one set of comprehensive obligations, the Miami Declaration shifted the framework to an a la carte approach. Using the “FTAA-Lite” model, member governments committed to a set of “first tier” common obligations and beyond that, they were and still are free to select which “second tier” regulation they will or will not adhere to.

If that wasn’t a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is? While the FTAA start and stop negotiations continue, the United States Trade Representative’s Office is exerting pressure on Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina by negotiating bi-lateral agreements with more willing Latin American countries. It should be noted that most parties to the negotiations have moved forward with bi-lateral and intra-regional negotiations, leaving the FTAA in a state of limbo.

Trinidad and Tobago is willing on the other hand to throw in even the kitchen sink to get this Secretariat located in Port of Spain. Can someone please tell me why Patrick Manning is still kissing more than just babies in Chile and Peru for something that might not even happen in his life time [remember his heart condition]. We have already given away the best matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup and millions of dollars in bribes, sorry aid to ensure the support of our CARICOM neighbours.

This government has no shame, but on a matter of principle and integrity, I am calling on Minister Ken Valley to resign his portfolio due to the fact that he has presided over an unprecedented number of failed initiatives – don’t be fooled by all the nice talk; all talk and nothing else.

Although the following quote makes reference to America, it applies all to well to our own circumstance: “The only foes that threaten America are the enemies at home, and these are ignorance, superstitition and incompetence.” [Elbert Hubbard – American Writer 1856 – 1915].