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Caribbean sugar producers lobby for EU money to ease impact
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 08 - 03 - 2006


Officials from three Caribbean
islands called on the European Union on Wednesday to
increase its compensation for losses from EU subsidy cuts
in the region's sugar industry, AP reported
Government officials from St. Kitts and Nevis, Guyana and
Jamaica met European Commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso and asked for more yearly aid in 2007-2012 to help
Caribbean sugar producers cope with the EU's 36-percent cut
in sugar subsidies imposed in January.
The EU has earmarked ¤40 million (US$47 million) in aid
for 2006, an amount St. Kitts Prime Minister Denzil Douglas
called "paltry."
"There is a grave concern in the Caribbean region. We
need to get a fair deal," said Douglas, whose country was
forced to close its sugar industry in July, after the price
cuts were announced.
The EU executive commission in December proposed offering
¤190 million (US$223 million) a year to Caribbean producers
until 2013. EU member states have since suggested the fund
start at ¤130 million (US$154 million) in 2007 and peak at
¤170 million (US$202 million) in 2013. The final amount
will depend on the EU's 2007-2013 budget, which has yet to
be agreed.
EU farmers who face the same subsidy cuts were to be
compensated US$7.9 billion (¤6.6 billion).
The EU for years gave its former colonies in the
Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific preferential access to
its markets and paid high prices to encourage development.
The World Trade Organization said the regime was unfair and
ordered the bloc to reduce quotas and prices for sugar, as
well as for bananas and cotton.
Douglas, St. Kitts and Nevis Foreign Minister Timothy
Harris, Guyana Foreign Trade Minister Clement Rohee, who
represents the 15-member Caribbean Community on sugar
issues, and officials from Jamaica will travel to Finland
on Thursday, where they will meet Prime Minister Matti
Vanhanen. Finland will take over the rotating EU presidency
in the second half of the year.
Douglas said Caribbean sugar producers would like to
receive some of the money from the proposed EU fund
upfront, rather than wait for installments to be paid over
six years. He said he has discussed the issue with Barroso
and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country
holds the EU presidency until June, but has not received
any assurances.
"If this is not revisited, it could lead to social
upheavals, economic instability and political unrest,"
said Douglas, adding that closing the sugar industry meant
9 percent of the country's work force would lose their
jobs.
"We had to borrow ¤10 million just to compensate our
people," he said.
The EU is unlikely to pay a full ¤190 million proposed by
the commission as its long-term budget will be less than
originally proposed.


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