The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Model

Submitted by katharina on 28 October 2011 - 11:29am

At the very core of the OECS model is the principal of the pooling of scarce human and financial resources in the building of a regional institutional architecture to provide an array of services in common, which individual Member States would be incapable of providing for themselves. With a combined population of slightly under 600,000 , these micro states are able to reduce their individual vulnerabilities and increase their resilience as a group.

Among the most important objectives of the Treaty of Basseterre – which was signed on 18 June 1981 to establish the OECS – were those designed to promote cooperation, unity and solidarity, to assist Member States with obligations with respect to International Law, to engage in joint overseas representation, to promote economic integration and to establish common institutions and take actions in common.

The Revised Treaty of Basseterre to Establish the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Economic Union was signed on 18th June 2010.

Key Information
28 October 2011
Timeframe: 
Ongoing since 18 June 1981
Case Study
Background: 

Trade Negotiations
Small size provides an array of special challenges in the ability of SIDS to undertake the multiple activities required of States to represent their interests and engage with the rest of the world: their ability to mobilize domestic savings for investments, to produce goods and services at competitive prices, to provide domestic markets that are viable, to produce and access human and financial resources in the quantities needed, and to use, apply and absorb technology as well as their ability to exercise both its rights and obligations under different agreements and conventions in the international arena. Most difficult are those related to trade protocols negotiated in the different theatres, as this sector continues to liberalize under the rules of engagement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The pooling of resources to provide services-in-common in the OECS model extends to areas of foreign policy. OECS has a number of joint diplomatic missions in different parts of the world, including Brussels (to the European Union) and Ottawa, with liaison offices in Puerto Rico and Toronto (the latter dealing with the supply of labour from OECS Member States under the Canadian guest workers programme), as well as a in Geneva that serves the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the trade-related United Nations Organisations based in Geneva.

Results Achieved: 

The OECS engagement in multilateral trade agreements has resulted in the body exerting an influence far above its minuscule position represented by the size of its economy. This has resulted in extending of tariff reduction periods for goods produced by the OECS to the WTO. In particular:

• Products benefiting from preferences have been granted a longer transition period for tariff reduction, thereby allowing more time for adjustment by the OECS;
• Bananas have been treated as a stand-alone product that will be subject to lower tariff cuts than other agricultural products;
• The transition period for the elimination of investment-related export subsidies has been extended twice to allow for the special circumstance of certain small economies;
• Fisheries subsidies draft modalities now contain provisions specific to SVEs such as the OECS.

Main Activities: 

The joint technical mission has facilitated OECS engagement in the multilateral trade negotiations, where it has played a significant role in shaping the modalities for special and differential treatment for developing countries and advancing the group’s positions through the ACP, the Small Vulnerable Economies (SVEs) group and the G33 coalition.

An array of activities, with functional cooperation at the core, has been put in place through which technical and developmental support is being transferred to the region.

Future Replicability
Lessons Learned: 

• There is strength in unity – a truism that has been demonstrated amply over the life of the Treaty of 1981. It is this fact that has given real impetus to the movement towards the formation of an Economic Union by the OECS, to deepen even further the integration among and between them.
• The OECS model champions and articulates its own strategic interests and is alert to changes in the global geopolitical environment that present either threats or opportunities to the goal of continued socio-economic development.

Key to Success for Future Replicability: 

• The establishment of joint institutional architecture at the smaller regional level, in response to individual human and financial constraints.
• Recalibrate OECS’ sense of place and purpose, through a careful review of both its strategic interests and its internal arrangements so as to benefit from the opportunities presented by the new economic order and to safeguard its interests.
• Put in place the legislative framework for the seamless harmonization of policies in strategic areas.

Contacts: 

Focal point(s) in lead country/organization
Len Ishmael
OECS Director General
1-758-455-6327 / 1-758-455-6300
lishmael@oecs.org