多米尼克工党主席、教育与人力资源开发部长 皮特·赛让

多米尼克工党主席、教育与人力资源开发部长 皮特·赛让

 

ADDRESS BY 

HONOURABLE PETTER SAINT JEAN

MINISTER FOR EDUCATION & HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF DOMINICA

PRESIDENT OF THE DOMINICA LABOUR PARTY

Innovation, Development, Cooperation and the Future—Challenges and Measures for Our Political Parties

PANEL II: CHINA-CELAC COOPERATION:

CHINA AND CARIBBEAN STATES COOPERATION

2ND SESSION

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015

1ST MEETING OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES’ FORUM CHINA-CELAC

BEIJING HOTEL

BEIJING, P. R. CHINA

Madam Moderator Wei Qiang

Madam Moderator Marcela Aguinaga

Fellow delegates from China and CELAC

Congratulations on our 1st Meeting of the Political Parties’ Forum China-CELAC!

This meeting is a triumph of the will of the Chinese people for peaceful development. It is a triumph of the will of the people of Latin America and the Caribbean for true Independence. It is yet another step in the consolidation of CELAC and in the advancement of cooperation between China and CELAC specifically and of South-South Cooperation more generally. Congratulations are, therefore, absolutely in order!

Let me hasten to bring you warmest, fraternal greetings from Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica and Political Leader of the Dominica Labour Party. However much Honourable Skerrit would have liked to be here in person today, circumstances did not allow it. Therefore, Honourable Skerrit had to content himself with being here in spirit and through representation of the Dominica Labour Party which he has led since 2004. Honourable Skerrit has asked me to convey to each and every delegation here present his fervent wish for a successful meeting that deepens our mutual understanding and resolve to advance the development of the working peoples of the world.

May I also, on behalf of my delegation and myself, pause to recognize our gracious hosts the Communist Party of China as well as to place on record notice of the excellent arrangements that have been made for this meeting. We thank you for your generous efforts. Similarly, we recognize the efforts of the co-hosts, the Movement for PAIS Alliance of Ecuador.

Moderators Quiang and Aguinaga, fellow delegates, we have been invited to present on the sub-topic of China-CELAC cooperation in the wider context of our theme, Innovation, Development, Cooperation and the Future—Challenges and Measures for Our Political Parties. We will focus on the case of Dominica-China cooperation as a way of deliberating on this theme and subtopic.

CONTEXT

First and foremost in understanding Dominica’s experience of cooperation with China, context is important, specifically size, location, historical circumstance, and political culture. The dominant reality of the Commonwealth of Dominica is our small size. At 285 square miles/751 km2, or less than zero point one per cent of the land area of planet earth, in 2004 when Dominica established diplomatic relations with China, Dominica was the 175th largest state by area. Our population was 71, 000. Our economy is small and underdeveloped.

Combined with our small size to shape our reality is our location. We are located in this chain of islands of the Caribbean which used to be called the ‘back yard’ of the United States of America.

Next, regarding historical circumstance, Dominica gained political Independence from Britain in 1978, in the height of the Cold War.

Finally, regarding political culture, the first twenty-five years of Dominica’s political Independence were dominated by conservative ruling political parties.

In sum, in the first quarter century of our existence as a sovereign State, context was the most dominant factor shaping our outlook on the work, our relationship with the outside, and specifically the non-existence of cooperation between Dominica and China. That is, the unchangeable and slow-changing realities of our existence impacted most of all our behaviour in the international community.

This puts a premium on the role of agency, specifically the role of leadership and the role of political ideology and political party as actors in the international arena.

PRIME MINISTER ROOSEVELT SKERRIT & DOMINICA LABOUR PARTY

By the end of the 20th century, the Cold War had ended. In place of a bipolar world, a unipolar world had emerged. Capital had risen triumphant. Globalization was forging full steam ahead. The rules of the market had become unchallenged. And pretty soon, a new type of force was loosed upon the world of State-to-State relations and it was the force of the market and the conditions of international trade as shapers of international relations.

And one of the earliest casualties of this new globalized order of neoliberalism was the Commonwealth of Dominica whose economy was dominated by the export of green bananas to the United Kingdom, an arrangement that had taken shape under colonial and neo-colonial conditions. The Dominica economy collapsed. Our social and political order were on the brink of collapse. Our national security was under threat.

Within the political culture, there was a radical shift in consciousness. The masses, predominantly rural banana farmers suddenly saw the political world in a new light.

The newly awakened masses rewarded a former voice in the wilderness, the late Rosie Douglas with supreme political office. As early as the 1960s, Douglas had called for a re-orientation of Dominica’s foreign policy. In the 1980s, Douglas had called for restructuring the Dominican economy away from bananas—to no avail. Now as a result of the new popular consciousness, he was Prime Minister.

In 2004, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit succeeded the late Roosevelt Douglas as Prime Minister of Dominica and Political Leader of the Dominica Labour Party.

The Dominica Labour Party like the great family of Labour Parties here today, from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Saint Lucia, is a workers’ party formed by British Fabian Socialists in the 1950s.

It was PM Roosevelt Skerrit, then aged thirty-one and the youngest prime minister in the world, representing a new generation but an old party that honoured historical struggles of the working people of Dominica who established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. It was in that way that agency, leadership, and political party opened the way for State-to-State relations between Dominica and China.

DOMINICA LABOUR PARTY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

As I stated earlier, the Dominica Labour Party is a relatively old structure. In fact, the model of the Labour Party is from nineteenth century Britain. The DLP was formed in 1955, making it sixty years old. It is in itself older than its leader who is now forty-three.

The Labour Party has transformed Dominica’s foreign policy, specifically establishing State-to-State cooperation between Dominica and China. The Dominica Labour Party under Political Leader Prime Minister Skerrit is seeking to advance what he did for the party in foreign policy in other areas, especially economic development, and representation of youth and women.

DOMINICA-CHINA COOPERATION

Since 2004, Dominica and China have enjoyed friendly relations and deepening and widening cooperation. Dominica fervently supports the One-China Policy. With the cooperation of China, especially in areas of finance, education, and science and technology Dominica has made gains towards the historic aim of the people of Dominica---the pursuit of economic development.

Two areas in particular are worthy of note. One is the area of education. Dominica has made impressive gains in education, a must if we are to fully integrate the knowledge economy.

The second is agriculture. Dominica-China cooperation has modernized agriculture especially plant propagation.

We thank the Government and People of the People’s Republic of China for this level of cooperation.

Finally, a new reality of our current circumstances is climate change. Climate change is making more difficult our historic challenge of achieving economic development. In this regard, on August 27 last Tropical Storm Erika erased 90% of our GDP, striking some physical fruits of our cooperation such as roads and bridges. We, especially the small island States of the Caribbean that are challenged by climate change must innovate in science, technology, education, and energy to protect the historic gains that we have made together. Party-to-party exchanges must continue to be a vital part of this cooperation.

As I close, I wish to thank all of the countries that have supported Dominica, especially in the wake of the devastation by Tropical Storm Erika, particularly the People’s Republic of China.

I thank the People’s Republic of China for the model cooperation arrangements that we share.

I want to recognize the representative of the People Republic of China in Dominica, Ambassador LI Jiangning, a good friend of Dominica.

I thank you!