Afro-Caribbeana

Britain and Caribbean Development

By David Jessop

Director of the Caribbean Council

Bridgetown: capital city of Barbados

During the course of August, Tony Blair is vacationing in the Caribbean. He is staying at a private villa in Barbados where, as far as any Prime Minister can, both he and his family wish to set aside work and relax.

Despite this, I hope that at least one evening, rum in hand, as he gazes at the sunset, he allows himself a little time to think about the future of the region that he has chosen to visit.

Issues in the region
Before departing he will have been given a background briefing on Barbados and the Caribbean and be aware of the issues his government regards as being important for the UK in its relationship with the region. That is to say the many economic challenges that face the region as a result of trade liberalisation, the problems of crime and narcotics trafficking through the Caribbean and the implications of the spread of HIV/AIDS.

He may be aware also from his briefing papers and previous conversations that many nations in the region wish to be treated differently because of their smallness and vulnerability.

Given that he is from a generation and background that has little relationship with the UK's colonial past, it would be nice to think too that on his transatlantic flight he may have read something about the history of the region and taken time to reflect on Britain's past.

Small island contradictions
Barbados, his chosen destination, may puzzle him. Having been told by successive Caribbean Governments about the problems facing the region, he may have difficulty in relating what he has heard about the dangers facing small island developing states to the apparent wealth, sophistication and the well-ordered society that he sees around him.

He may have further problems in relating the development concerns that face the Caribbean to the immediate and unsettling issues he has been focussing on recently in relation to Africa. If he has the opportunity to drive around Barbados he may be further confused. He will see pockets of poverty and deprivation but could well conclude that this is little worse than anything in Britain's inner cities.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reported that out of some 175 nations, Barbados was the world's highest ranked developing country in that multilateral institution's index of human development. This measures annually individual nations achievements in areas such as life expectancy, educational attainment and real income. Ranked by the UNDP at number twenty seven in the world, Barbados as a small nation rates extraordinarily well if you consider that the United States is listed at number seven, Britain at thirteen and Canada at eight (Norway is number one).

Other Caribbean nations also rank highly. The Bahamas is rated with Barbados in the top fifty while just outside is St Kitts/Nevis, Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago. Only one Caribbean nation, Haiti, at number 150, can be found in the 'low human development' category.

How far can you generalise?
What this points to, and one hopes Tony Blair will understand, is that in global terms the Caribbean is hard to categorise as a region. While we speak easily about the Caribbean as if it were some homogenous whole, it is far from that.

In some cases small nations that have the critical mass of economic and social infrastructure have made the economic transition out of agriculture to the service sector and competitiveness. Others that are significantly larger nations with or without the necessary social and economic infrastructure or governance have not and may not be able to.

Put another way, the manner in which Barbados' has achieved relative prosperity may not be applicable to Dominica or even Jamaica. Guyana may succeed if for instance the long mooted road to open up Brazil's North Eastern provinces were to go ahead, its economy were to flourish and it could retain its people.

Trinidad with its oil and gas wealth is in a category of one but for a complex series of issues perhaps relating to national identity is less than enamoured with playing the larger regional role those outside the region may wish on it. And Cuba's level of social development is not matched yet by economic success.

Fragility of the Eastern Caribbean
The figures produced by the World Bank, the UNDP and others offer dangerous generalisations. The reality is that the achievements of most Caribbean nations are fragile and incomplete. The statistics hide a diversity of nations that defy easy categorisation and an unwillingness in the case of some in the region to understand the need to find new solutions. They obscure the inefficiencies that result from having so many administrations and what sometimes seems to be an excess of political democracy and personal aspiration.

If he has the chance, Prime Minister Blair might like to think about the fragility of what he sees around him. To consider how a hurricane, a terrorist threat, an environmental catastrophe, the collapse of tourism or a dramatic downturn in the international economy could affect Barbados to say nothing of its neighbours in the Eastern Caribbean.

He might also like to consider how best to ensure what has been achieved by small middle ranking nations in the Caribbean can be secured. As a successful political leader he might also dwell on the ways in which Britain's support for the region might usefully touch on the Caribbean Diaspora in the United Kingdom that tends to vote in his party in many marginal constituencies.

Britain's special role
If he travels around the island he will understand its smallness and why its future is very different from the Latin nations he has visited. If he does, he will recognise that even if the Caribbean is fully integrated economically into the Americas, the region will continue to need Britain and the special role it can play in Europe where its views on the Caribbean are respected.

History is no longer a component in Britain's relationship with the region but Prime Minister Blair has in person and in recent correspondence with Caribbean leaders made clear that Britain will support the region and its interests wherever possible. I wish Mr Blair a good holiday and I hope he returns to Europe reinvigorated and better aware of how his government can add real value to the region's development and the UK/Caribbean relationship.

David Jessop is the Director of the Caribbean Council and author of The Week in Europe newsletter.