Serious Business: Caribbean Commitment in China

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Advocate - “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:29-30 THIS week, here is an amalgam of web feeds which may inspire hope for the future of the Caribbean. (1) The VISION: “Dr. C. Fred Bergsten, Director Emeritus of the Peterson Institute, has suggested that the upswing in the global economy will filter down to the Caribbean. He said that the worst of the global recession has passed and the region must now look to new economic interests as it repositions itself. According to Bergsten, the Caribbean must look towards new partnerships and linkages with the world’s emerging markets: Latin America, Brazil and more so East Asia and China.” “The truth is neither North America nor Western Europe are the new dynamic leaders of the world economy. The emerging markets of developing countries around the globe now account for the half of the world economy, they are growing three times as fast as high income, traditional economic power houses and that’s where the dynamism is. He believes China is a potential gold mine for the region’s tourism dependent economies, which have been losing their market share in the US and British markets.”