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Marketing arrangements for bananas continue, until ...
 

Banana growers in St.Vincent and the Grenadines and other Caribbean territories can breathe a bit easier having learnt of decisions taken by the European Union to maintain the current marketing arrangements until the regime can be restructured.
Prime Minister Sir James Mitchell, returning from his mission in Brussels last Wednesday afternoon, announced at a press conference at the E.T Joshua VIP Lounge that �Europe has informed us that desspite punitive measures have been taken their position on the marketing arrangements remain in place until something else is put in place.�
According to the Sir James, �that was very important for us to know there is no cause for immediate planning.�
Early last month a ruling was passed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Europe to withdraw preferential tariffs from bananas coming out of ACP States.
This ruling stirred panic throughout the Caribbean, especially in the Windwards Islands where the economies are based heavily on banana production.
�My first job was to be the pioneer on this new exercise,� the Prime Minister told reporters. �This was to be the first encounter that we had with Europe following the WTO ruling and it was important that we from the Caribbean go forward and meet with the Europeans and demonstrate our concerns about the decisions that had been taken to hurt Europe.�
Sir James, in his report of the meetings held to discuss the banana issue, said that EUA has indicated that they will not be appealing the WTO�s ruling since �they have decided they were no longer going down the road of legal arguments.
�Secondly, they took the decision they wanted to have a European position by the end of May to put before the European Commision,� he added.
The Europeans, determined to end the Banana trade war, are already paying huge fines to the United States.
�The first charge was several hundred millions. But the WTO, in the second ruling, brought down the penalty to US$191,000,000,� Sir James said. �Europe is already paying the United States between $16 and $90 million for infractions of the WTO rules.�
�The question now before us is to work out what sort of preferences are necessary for the continuing survival of the industry,� he emphasized.
Plans are already in place to restructure the regime between the months of May and June, the Prime Minister outlined.
While there are plans set in place to restructure the regime the Prime Minister said that he has identified areas that will be of a problem.
For example, the European Commission term expires in September and it is not known if any of the current Commissioners will continue. Also, the European parliament will be changed in June and any new arrangements made have to be approved by the European Parliament.
�We have asked the European Governments not to be rail-roaded in this exercise and that we should work together to try and get the resolution and settlement of the matter,� Sir James said.
News of the WTO ruling on prefential tariffs on bananas coming from the Caribbean, African and Pacific States stirred great concerns in these regions since it will be difficult to compete on the markets without preferential tariffs.
The Prime Minister was accompanied on the trip to Europe by Senator Joseph Burns Bonadie, and was later joined by Deputy Leader of the Opposition Unity Labour Party Hon. O.A.Ken Boyea.
 
SVG represented at regional human rights course
Three members of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Human Rights Association left here on Monday, 10 May to attend a four-day regional course on International Human Rights and the Caribbean.
Keziah Nash, Fareeda Kajim and Elroy Nash attended the course held in Barbados.
The objective of the training course is to bring together governmental officials, staff of non-governmental organisations and other interested individuals to study and discuss current issues in the area of human rights.
Some of the topics discussed are the Universal and Regional Systems of Protection; the role of the Judiciary, the Police, the Press, Civil Society and the Public Defender in the protection of Human Rights; economic, social and cultural rights; the rights of women; and other topics of international and regional interest.
The training course was jointly sponsored by the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights ( IIHR), the University of the West Indies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Barbados.
The resource persons were Rose-Marie Antoine, Professor of Law, UWI; John Donaldson, former chairman, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; Oliver Jackman, Judge, Inter-American Court of Human Rights; Juan E. Mendez, Executive Director, Inter-American Human Rights, Dr. Lloyd Barnett, Q.C., Jamaica; Margaret De Mariux, Bennet Brummer, Public Defender of Dade Country, and Victor Cuffy, Board member, Inter-American Institute of Human Rights.
 
Gonsalves promises severance payments to former estate workers
Former workers on the Fitz Hughes and Richmond Estates have been told that they will receive their severance payments and monies due to them as soon as the Unity Labour Party takes office.
Word of this has come from the Unity Labour Party�s Leader the Hon. Ralph E. Gonsalves.
Dr. Gonsalves was at the time addressing a massive crowd at Sharpes, Chateaubelair on Saturday, 1 May, as the ULP staged a �Youth Explosion Sensation.�
Noting that 1 May was traditionally observed as Labour Day or Worker�s Day here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines as well as in the other countries, Dr. Gonsalves stated that it was time the former estate workers in North Leeward got their due.
The ULP Leader said that when he did house-to-house canvassing in that Constituency last December, many elderly persons complained that they had not received their severance.
Dr. Gonsalves pledged to the people of North Leeward that on the ULP assuming office, the former estate workers will be paid their monies due.
 
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