From The Barbados Advocate

“The European Union, while it has pulled us in through the EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement), is also pushing us out through some of the blacklisting analyses they have put in place for our service economy”.

The above sentiments were shared by Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Sir Hilary Beckles, as he spoke during a symposium held at the UWI’s Regional Headquarters, in Jamaica last Wednesday, under the theme, “Brexit: Implications for the Caribbean”.

The symposium was hosted by the Office of the Vice Chancellor in collaboration with the university’s Department of Economics, and the Caribbean Policy Research Institute, to examine the implications of Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU).

“This is hurting us. We have to be mindful of this. They are pursuing their own self-interests,” he said of the EU blacklisting.

“Now they have divided us so that …all the other countries they have graduated into middle income countries, leaving us now outside of a certain space, for the development support that this region is entitled to,” Sir Hilary further noted.

“The reason why I have always been an advocate for the reparatory justice movement, is because it is a counter argument to the push back against the Caribbean. It is a critical instrument within the overall package of discussion that we must have,” he said.

“CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) is a part of our natural historical world and we have to say to the European Union, this middle income gradation structure which is being used as an instrument against the Caribbean, we have to shift the conversation to the issue surrounding the SIDS (Small Island Developing States). We have to move away from the per capita income classification, to the vulnerability index classification. These countries are all vulnerable to the shocks of climate change and the adverse effects of globalisation. We have to shift the diplomacy away from middle income graduation to vulnerability indexes,” Sir Hilary stressed.

Pointing out that the Caribbean is one of the most vulnerable nation state conglomerates on the planet, the UWI Vice Chancellor noted that in order for all this to occur, the Caribbean will need a strong voice. (RSM)

For more on this story go to: http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/news/sir-hilary-speaks-out-against-eu-blacklisting
IMAGE: www.uwi.edu Sir Hi