1. *The Text of this Presentation named “International Perceptions of Small Island Developing States and our
Sustainable Development” is only to be used as a Basis for Discussion. The Text of this Presentation has
been created by Nicky Hoo-Fatt and is exclusively for the use of the Recipient in good faith for this
purpose. The Text of this Presentation or any part thereof, is not to be reproduced, replicated, traded, sold,
re-sold, shared, copied or used for any other purpose without the express permission of the creator Nicky
Hoo-Fatt. Any attempt to do so will constitute infringement, and will at the discretion of the creator, be
subject to legal recourse.
(At the kind invitation of The Rotary Club of Downtown Kingston, this presentation was delivered by
Nicole Hoo-Fatt on Wednesday November 21st
)
“International Perceptions of Small Island Developing States
and our Sustainable Development”
Host: Rotary Club of Downtown Kingston
Hilton Kingston Hotel
Wednesday November 21st
2007
Guest Speaker: Nicole Hoo-Fatt, BA cum laude; MBA; LL.M
The Leadership of the Rotary Club of Downtown Kingston; Other Members of the Head Table; the wider
Rotarian community present today; Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends all: Good Afternoon.
It’s a singular privilege to be invited to address your Rotary Club of Downtown Kingston this afternoon.
There are many faces I recognize who have been both friends and colleagues over the years. And
especially, thanks to Rotarian Jackie McGregor, whose infectious good humour and vibrant spirit brought
me here this afternoon.
I’m here today to try and stimulate some thought and reflection, and I’m speaking from the standpoint as a
keen observer of international economic events. It’s a fascinating standpoint and a great place to be really,
as our world and our region transform into blocs of nations with new definitions of development,
accompanied by a non-stoppable process of global economic integration. Many of our people and many of
our neighbours are quite likely feeling rather bewildered by all this. And it’s easy to understand why.
While preparing dinner the other evening, I was telling my dad, that in my lower sixth form Micro-
Economics class, (by the way I dropped Econ in upper sixth), I had learnt of the economic factors of
production: land, labour and capital. It had been an accepted and unquestionable part of the laws of
economics, established and taught by heads far wiser than my own. That, ladies and gentlemen, was 1982.
Then I said to my father, “Do you realize that the factors of production as we were taught back then no
longer apply, and are largely no longer relevant?
And if I remarked on that, as a forty-one year old professional, what then for those of my parents’
generation? The lesson for me was this: in this information age, we have to engage a new world, engage
new structures, and engage new ways of thinking. But I also do believe that it need not be as daunting as
we might think.
Let me begin then with some definitions. In the United Nations, we belong to a group of countries which
the international community describes as “Small Island Developing States”. We are joined in this grouping
principally by the island nations of South East Asia and the Pacific region of the world. That’s definition
number one.
Here’s definition number two. As it suggests, “Sustainable Development (or SIDS)” is the term our
international counterparts use to describe the new challenges and dilemmas which virtually all developing
countries face, (small island or not), …..to name a few of the immediate ones…..: energy security; disaster
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2. mitigation and climate change; debt servicing; food security; technology transfer; the “digital divide”; trade
preference erosion and intellectual property rights.
Now compare these if you will, with the more traditional descriptions of development- …..I’ll name three
examples: investment inflows to build factories; building brick& mortar businesses; and the attractiveness
and competitiveness of large pools of unskilled labour; all under the umbrella of comparative advantage.
All based on the then reassuring belief that one, energy supplies were if not limitless, then highly unlikely
to be depleted any time soon; secondly, that unskilled workers would always be sought after to keep
product prices low; and three, that commodity prices would remain if not always strong, then at least
reliably buoyant.
Then, arguably in the space of one generation, our world did an about-face.
Services outstripped goods as the primary supporters of national economies. In some instances, certain
services could be transmitted via satellite systems to their destination markets rather than from face-to-face
encounters between producer and consumer.
Factories, though still absolutely necessary, began to output far more complex products than simply
textiles. Higher value-added components to produce higher value-added products became the rule rather
than the exception. And competitiveness became based on higher quality and not on lower prices.
Brick & mortar businesses rapidly were becoming replaced by online services with everything from
internet shopping and internet socializing to wiki libraries and online financial services. And unskilled
contributors became encouraged to acquire marketable skills; and for all workers, (including those of us
who consider ourselves knowledge workers), to formalize their skills. Labour therefore, moved from being
a static resource pool transferred from one site to the next; to being producers and consumers in their own
right, with specific choices of where, when, and how to supply markets with their newly formalized skills.
So now, let’s put the two together: SIDS and Sustainable Development.
If you accept the reasoning that one’s perceptions shape the outcomes of how one survives, then perhaps
we can use the same reasoning to explain the perceptions which the international community and its
agencies hold of us as SIDS.
Many countries represented within the United Nations system need some convincing that SIDS are
otherwise than largely idyllic island locations; where, by virtue of year round hospitable climates, have the
capability to supply domestic food demand without too many unpredictable disruptions; and are able to
consistently attract significant tourism earnings to sufficiently supplement national income.
We of course, see and know and live quite a different picture. We have serious challenges. Our national
economies are vulnerable to external shocks; we are heavily import fuel dependent; we are susceptible to
falling prices for commodities upon which we have come to rely; the trade preference regime upon which
our traditional economies have been configured is eroding (think current EPA negotiations); we have major
unemployment and underemployment issues; alarming issues of crime and security; very limited financial
prowess; weakening institutions; damage to vulnerable eco-systems which, we are warned, if left
unchecked, will not survive climate change; and importantly, our economies (certainly for those of us in the
Caribbean) have asymmetrical levels of development, thereby creating major obstacles for trade
harmonisation and regional integration efforts.
If I may highlight what may be the “touchiest” challenge of them all: we are unable to secure debt write-
downs and write-offs like our Least Developed Country (LDC) counterparts in Africa, Asia and Latin
America, as we are classified (certainly under World Bank measures) as “middle-income”; that is, too poor
to pay it all back, but too rich to have it all forgiven.
So then, are our efforts all for nought? I would say, not at all.
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3. During the last decade or so, some noteworthy changes have taken place. We can argue that they were long
overdue, but then that’s for another discussion. The days of the one-size-fits-all austerity and conditionality
policies no longer apply. Shifts and policy changes are taking place at the World Bank, where evaluation
teams now invite and in fact, mandate, a more inclusive decision-making process; taking into account the
contributions of academia; civil society and other stakeholders.
Another big change? Albeit slowly, the IMF, World Bank and WTO systems have been moving towards
action that more accurately reflects the post-colonial world of the 21st
century. And although we are tiny by
comparison, we can learn from the emerging/developing economies of India, China, Brazil, Mexico and
South Africa who are becoming, in their own right, economic forces to reckon with.
Critical mass is definitely a large part of why they have been able to almost re-sketch the traditional North-
South economic relationship. But if we look closer at the new propositions they bring, it begins to sound
remarkably close to home.
India’s IT specialists are sought-after globally and are the incumbents in many Silicon Valley leadership
roles; China is powering away at 10% growth per year to not only grow domestic industry, but also to grow
market access abroad; and Brazil is the world leader in ethanol production which, in our region, is
transforming the humble sugarcane from archaic industry to possibly the premier source of alternative
energy.
Needless to say, there are consequences on the down-side for all of them. But if we apply the same
principles to our own, albeit much smaller context, why could we not be a financial services centre for the
hemisphere? Why could we not be a training resource ground for the Caribbean? Why could we not
become a location of choice for non-Caribbean retiring communities? Clearly, these ideas have been
proposed over the years by our best and brightest minds in business, in industry, in media, in academia. I
would only add, if I may, let’s keep asking ourselves those questions. Let’s keep on asking them until the
answers become self-evident and a matter of course.
And why do I believe we can get there? Even though the timeframes to get there may differ? I would say,
if you can survive austerity policies; if you can survive the dilemma of trying to present business
projections based on successive currency devaluations; if you can survive difficult balance of payment
issues; brain drain challenges; difficult security issues, and at the same time, find resources to encourage
the aspirations of our young, then our Jamaican business world is very real and very savvy. And if our
Jamaican businesses and other organizations have survived all this, then our Jamaican managers I believe,
have something of great merit to teach and share with our neighbours and counterparts abroad.
Our economic interests dovetail. I believe that if we can sort that out, our social interests will also
converge, and we would be on our way to becoming not just the country, but the competitive region to
which we all aspire.
Thank you for listening today.
***
(The writer may be contacted at nhoofatt@yahoo.com)
Copyright © December 2007, Nicole Hoo-Fatt
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