All the talk about The Bahamas being the linchpin to the Caribbean single market overlooks the fact we are not, and never have been, a part of the regional economy. Rather, we are an offshore dependency of Florida.

According to Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur, the creation of the single

market and economy would be "the most ambitious endeavour ever undertaken in

the region since Columbus landed in the Bahamas."

In that case, we think the Bahamian people are entitled to the final say through a referendum, the way British Prime Minister Tony Blair has promised a referendum on U.K. participation in the European monetary union.

CARICOM was born of the rubble of the British West Indies Federation, a putative political union from 1958 to 1962 that never included The Bahamas, then still a British colony. CARICOM's founding treaty came in 1973, but we did not see fit to participate for another decade. Now a revised treaty mandates all member states

join a Caribbean free-trade zone.

In its original incarnation, CARICOM focused on economic cooperation (from

which The Bahamas was exempt), coordination of foreign policy, and common

services and cooperation in matters such as health, education and culture, communications and industrial relations.

The so-called single market and economy is a more formal union that calls for free movement of capital, labour, goods and services among member countries as well as coordination of economic and monetary policies. But why should we be expected to risk our own "special relationship" with the world's richest and most

powerful economy in order to give our six million neighbours to the south a

window on North America?

And now Haiti has become the 15th member of CARICOM, as regional governments deperately try to help it stave off social and economic collapse that

would create huge suffering and millions of impoverished refugees.

There is the question of whether wider negotiations leading to creation of a free-trade area of the Americas will strengthen or weaken CARICOM as a subregional trade group. An argument exists that regional economic blocs are the only meaningful operational units around the world and the real benefit of our association with CARICOM is the pooling of resources and expertise to participate effectively in trade negotiations sponsored by major economies.

We are not necessarily opposed to free trade. And it is not even the question of "sovereignty" that exercises our mind in this regard. In this age of globalisation, sovereignty is mainly a psychological illusion.

But clearly there has to be a net gain for anyone to agree to such far-reaching proposals. A few off-the-cuff speeches and meetings do not do justice to the issues and consequences involved.

The case of Bermuda is instructive. That island country recently became an

associate member of CARICOM but that association does not involve it in a Caribbean single market or economy, the free movement of labour, the Caribbean Court of Justice or coordinated policies.

Bermuda is probably the regional country we most closely resemble in terms of political, social and economic structures.

And Bermuda is very successful just as it is.

Posted Friday 25 July, 2003