With regards to the World Trade Organization (WTO), it is my suggestion that the Christie Administration be wary of causing The Bahamas to become a member of this organization.  As a consumer, one can benefit from competition, enjoying cheaper cars, computers, and other products.  But on the other hand, you may be a worker from an ill-equipped company.  Therefore, you will have to face the pressure of low salary and even unemployment.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international body that is supposed to oversee world trade to the benefit of us all.  Yet, since its establishment in 1995, it has rapidly developed a reputation for increasing inequality between countries.  Furthermore, the WTO has failed poor countries in favor of the rich, and is also being accused of being in favor of corporations over citizens.

In his book "Collision", Dr. Han Deqiang highlighted the negative impact of the WTO on China, stating that “The whole point about the WTO is free trade, but in fact, it is a tool used by strong countries to disarm weak countries. America is the most hypocritical as it never cares about the interests of weak countries. When it demands other countries to open their markets, it tightly seals off its own market by using anti-dumping and other means.”

Dr. Han further stated that “… joining WTO does not necessarily bring democracy and the rule of law required by ordinary people. There are 133 WTO members - look at some of the African countries, the corruption there is much worse than in China.” 

According to the Agriculture and Marine Resources Minister Leslie Miller, in a report in The Tribune dated Tuesday, July 25^th, 2006, “… developing countries such as the Bahamas, would not benefit from the WTO’s plan, which … might in fact gravely cripple their economies should they officially become a member of the organization.”

Minister Miller further stated that “It makes no sense for the least developed world to open their economies to accept all the goods produced by those industrialized countries at the expense of the small developing countries by having them offer to only assist the least developed countries in Africa – so we rejected their proposal.”

This is indicative of the CSME, as well as the whole Caribbean integration process.  Looking back at the North America Free Trade Areas (NAFTA) between the United States, Canada and Mexico it was obvious that the pact, instead of improving the economic potential and actual growth of Mexico, worsened the state of the country. The usual political rhetoric that the Mexican economy would pick up after its destabilization is not an acceptable and logical outcome expected from a pact meant to promote economic development and growth. Mexico has still not recovered to date.

The Bahamas has achieved, over the years, substantial growth in tourism development, an entrenched and deepened democratic institution that is unmatched in the region.  Further, this is more reason to be careful of being associated with international trade organizations whose only intent is to exploit and promote the interest of their multinational corporations. 

The WTO is an elite club of slave masters designed to disrupt the economic harmony of the developed world.  Their mandate is to keep the status quo and promote exploitation in respect to underdeveloped countries, that is, keep them as consumer markets to unload their goods and services.  In terms of global population, the irony of the WTO is that they only represent less than nine percent of the world population of developed countries.  They do not care and are not interested in the small island nations and what we have to say regarding world trade.  They would impose their will in a diabolical form of trade blackmail.  This was witnessed this week by the US and European Union regarding the failure of the WTO recent negotiations.  They are now in a deeper crisis of their neo-elitist and uncompetitive agenda.

The Bahamas has a unique economy – we are a service-based economy and must be very careful of the global vampires.  In this instance, I commend Minister Miller for being cognizant of the hidden agenda of the World Trade Organization.  Not only is their agenda an insult with regards to concessions but their agenda also represents a global economic crisis that they want to perpetuate on underdeveloped countries.

We must realize that all the economic efforts towards trade liberalization and globalization impose significant costs for the weaker and more vulnerable countries in the form of dislocation and distributional effects, both from financial resources management and the state of economic development. Sometimes, such shift in policy results in extremely painful adjustment.

Small Island states such as The Bahamas and most Caribbean countries need to seriously analyze their economic priorities, looking specifically at the potential benefits to their respective countries, counter-balancing it with the negative impact the pact would have on revenue generation, as some member countries have been compelled to borrow from the International Monetary Fund due to loss in tariff revenues.

July 27, 2006