Transcript ALBA & Petrocaribe An Alternative to Neo

ALBA & Petrocaribe
An Alternative to Neo-Liberal
Integration?
A Preliminary Evaluation from a
CARCOM Perspective
Norman Girvan
ALBA GUIDING PRINCIPLES
• Solidarity
• Complementarity
• Compensatory financing for the treatment of
asymmetries
• Differentiated treatment of countries
according to their circumstances
ALBA PRINCIPLES AND RULES
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Trade and investment to be instruments of fair and sustainable development with
effective participation of the State.
Special and differentiated treatment for participating countries according to their
level of development and size
Economic complementarity and cooperation between countries to preserve
efficient and productive specialization and balanced economic development
Cooperation and solidarity for a Continental fight against illiteracy provide free
healthcare and a scholarship programme.
Creation of a Social Emergency Fund
Integrated development of communications and transport
Protection of the environment
Energy integration
Promotion of intra-Latin American Investment through a Latin American
Investment Bank, a Bank of Development of the South and a Latin American
Society of Reciprocal Guarantees
Defense of cultural identity: creation of TELESUR.
Intellectual Property Rights to protect the patrimony of the region while not
becoming an obstacle to cooperation
Harmonization of positions in multilateral fora, including democratization of
international organizations particularly the United Nations system.
CARIBBEAN ALBA
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The fight against poverty and social exclusion
Joint Plan for food security
Power and mining development for the development of
joint production chains
Portfolio of integrated investments
Academic and cultural exchange
Tourism—cooperation in human resource development, air
transport, and other areas
Environmental conservation
Caribbean regional market—intra-regional trade
Prevention and management of natural disasters
PRACTICE
• Concessional financing for energy import bills
• Use for state-owned industries, physical and
social infrastructure,
• Support for projects in health and education
that directly benefit the poor
• Non-reciprocal trading arrangements.
ALBA FINANCIAL COOPERATION
• Venezuela - $100 million to Bolivia on joining
ALBA - additional $30 million for infrastructure
• ALBA Caribe Fund created within the PC
framework for ALBA countries - 25 percent of bill
for imports of crude oil from Venezuela credited
to this Fund to fight poverty
• ALBA Bank (BALBA) support sustainable social
and economic development, reduce poverty and
strengthen integration - authorized capital of $2
billion subscribed capital of $1 billion.
ALBA TRADE RELATIONS
• Non-reciprocity - Cuba agreed to grant duty-free
access to Venezuelan imports and to remove non-tariff
barriers; while in return Venezuela has agreed to
eliminate only non-tariff barriers on Cuban imports
• Compensated trade - through direct product
exchanges – Dominica is allowed to pay for 40 percent
of its Petrocaribe oil imports with exports of bananas
• Trade agreements negotiated on a case-by-case basis,
allowing for flexibility of commitment according to
country circumstances.
• Reciprocal Credit Arrangements Venezuela-Cuba
Agreement.
SOCIAL COOPERATION
• Health and education – role of Cuba
• 30,000 doctors are providing free services to the poor throughout Latin
America and the Caribbean
• 70,000 students are receiving training as health professionals; over two
million have been made literate and 600,000 people have ‘had their sight
restored via Operation Miracle and free surgical operations’.
• ALBA agreements provide for 2000 Cuban scholarships per year for
Venezuela and 5000 Cuban medical scholarships for Bolivia. Bolivia is
reportedly benefiting from 600 Cuban medical specialists and Venezuela
has 15,000 Cuban medical professionals working in its Barrio Adentro
Mission.
• Dominica, over 100 students reportedly attending Cuban medical and
nursing schools and approximately 75 Dominican students are in other
Cuban schools. 2,000 Venezuelan and Cuban scholarships are available to
qualified Dominican students in computer science, medicine, engineering,
sports, physics, math, and agriculture’.
Petrocaribe has become the most
important single source of
concessional financing for the 16
beneficiary countries
• PC Credits June 2005--December 2007: $1,170 million;
$468 million/year; 2008 data unavailable.
• U.S. Foreign Assistance to Caribbean FYs 2005-2007
$340 million/year
• IDB disbursements to 16 PC participating countries in
FY 2008 - $100 million
• Jamaica - $471 M PC credits June 2005-March 2008; US
assistance FYs 2005-2007 amounted to $58 million.
POTENTIAL NEGATIVES OF ALBA
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Donor dependency
Energy dependency
Economic vulnerability
Political vulnerability
State-centric, as opposed to ‘grassroots’ or communitybased development
Capital intensive, potentially environmentally damaging
projects
Transparency/accountability issues
Potential for corruption
Democratic, participatory governance should be integral to
ALBA
Letter from London, March 2, 2009
“1,700 young people registered and came to the
"6 Billion Ways" conference organised by
some NGOs and social movements, and guest
speakers from the South (including self) were
constantly on demand. The youth are yearning
for answers to issues posed by the present
crises. The answers, I think, will have to come
from the South -- it is the oppressed who
have the answers on how to get out of the
situation, not the oppressors.”
From Jamaica Youth and Elders in Solidarity with Cuba YESCuba, Bulletin No. 6
• Can you imagine waking every morning and not having to worry about
crime?
• Can you imagine hearing a knock on your door; then when you open the door,
there stands a doctor whose responsibility is to check with your family to see
if everyone is doing ok – and if not, to ensure that they receive the treatment
they need free of cost?
• Can you imagine Jamaica experiencing a hurricane that inflicts serious
damage to homes, schools and business places; but within days classes
resume with classrooms being the verandahs of individual homes in the
community?
• Can you imagine Jamaica being visited almost daily by foreign heads of states,
ministers of foreign governments or some other foreign dignitary?
• Can you imagine elections being manned by primary school students and not
hear one report of indiscipline or fraud?
• Can you imagine a Jamaica with less than 1% illiteracy?
• We can.
• As Fidel said, ‘Otro Mundo Es Posible’, meaning, another world is possible so
long as we are willing to work towards and struggle for it.
Links
• ALBA, Petrocaribe and Caricom, Norman
Girvan
• Movimientos Sociales con el ALBA
• ALBA website
• Petrocaribe website