Global economy, not Cuba, top item for Summit of the Americas

The top US diplomat for the Western Hemisphere told journalists in London Friday this month's 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain will focus on the global economic crisis the drive by some countries in the hemisphere, including Trinidad & Tobago, to get Cuba reinstated into the American system.

Tom Shannon, the assistant U.S. Secretary for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs in the US State Department, spoke with journalists from nine Latin American and Caribbean countries on a pre-summit reporting tour at the State Department.

Shannon linked the G-20 talks which concluded in London Friday with the upcoming Summit in Trinidad.

“I think without a doubt that the real issue at Port-of-Spain is going to be the economic crisis and it is our hope that we, along with the four other Western Hemisphere countries (Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Mexico) that are participating in the G-20 Summit in London, are going to be able to build a pathway from London to Port-of-Spain so that the decisions made in London will resonate positively in Port-of-Spain,” he said.

Shannon told the Trinidad Guardian since the Port-of-Spain Summit will be the first regional meeting after the G-20 the intention of the U.S. and its partners is to ensure the Summit establishes the means and mechanism of protecting the poorest and most vulnerable economies in the Americas during the crisis.

Shannon noted that some nations in the Caribbean and Latin America “don't have large cash reserves; they rely on trade for economic growth; they have small domestic markets and import all of their energy and the Chinese won't buy their debt.”

He said the U.S. must work with financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the regional development banks, “to push money at those countries, to ensure that public sector projects are protected and that they can continue with the kinds of social programmes that they have going now. "We don't want the economic crisis to become an economic and social crisis.”

He called the economic crisis a “big test” for democracy in the hemisphere.

“We have to be able to show that democracy through coordinated action can protect the social gains that have been made over the last decade and create a basis upon which, when the recovery starts to happen, these countries will be able to take advantage of the recovery quickly,” said Shannon.