“…on seaport quays; at airports; anywhere there is a ship or train, swift motor car or jet to travel faster than the breeze… You see them gathered; passport stamped… Where to? They do not know. Canada, the Panama canal, the Mississippi pain fields, Florida? Or on the dock at hissing smoke locked, Glasgow…” ¹

Such is the geographical spread of our Caribbean peoples who live overseas. When we speak of the millions who live in the Community we have to double that figure to include those on the Diaspora, hence the two Caribbeans.

The premium being placed on the Caribbean Community’s relationship with the Diaspora is best expressed in the impending groundbreaking Conference on the Caribbean in Washington DC on 19 -21 June 2007, under the theme: Conference on the Caribbean: A 20/20 Vision.

Organised primarily by the Washington based CARICOM Caucus of Ambassadors, the Caribbean Community envisages that this historic conference will see the deepening of relations between the US and CARICOM by addressing critical issues relating to CARICOM’s future growth and development in priority areas such as competitiveness, trade and investment.

It is for this very reason that the Conference has catalysed into the public forum, the perennial debate on the value of and significance of labour migration. This time the debate assumes another nuance: How does CARICOM propose to build a symbiotic relationship with the Caribbean Diaspora and optimise the potential benefits accruing from such a relationship?

The question summons a critical analysis of the existing relationship between Diaspora and the Caribbean Community especially as it relates to the United States.

Second and Third Generation Caribbean

The Caribbean Diaspora comprises not only those who actually migrated, but also a large number of second and third generation dependents, born in the host countries. There is the challenge of instilling in this ‘nexers’ generation, the values, mores and culture of the Caribbean. This assertion of our unique Caribbean cultural identity must be seen as nothing short of a sacred trust. It is a precious heritage that must be preserved. It is this identity, which provides our successor generations with the ability to confront and overcome the many negative influences, which are characteristic of the migrant experience. By instilling in them, the sense of who they are and the roots from which they spring, we give these new generations a gift of incalculable value, even while perpetuating a positive image of the Caribbean Community.

It is on this premise therefore that our relationship with the Diaspora must of necessity be one that spawns more than just financial remittances, contributions and investments. Indeed, it is one in which a very high premium must be placed on the Diaspora’s intellectual capital; its reservoir of talent, imagination and creativity; its ingenuity and capacity to image the Caribbean as the preferred Community for business, travel and communication in the global village.

Remittances

Undeniably, the predominant economic relationship between the two Caribbeans revolves around remittances or money transfers. There is also the heavy flow of imports of consumer goods, which relatives in the Diaspora send home, particularly at holiday periods.

Speaking of the Jamaican context, Economist Dennis Morrison, in an article², says, “the magnitude of the financial transfers from the USA, is astounding, and its explosive growth in the past decade has defied the forecasts of economists and planners.” He intimates that remittances have become the major source of financing for the large deficit in our trade in goods and services.

Current trends ostensibly validate this claim. Remittances to the six top labour-exporting countries from the Caribbean - Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago – totalled over $6billion in 2003³. In Jamaica for example, from a mere US$164.2 million in 1990, remittances grew to US$806.5 million by 2000, and stood at US$1.87 billion in 2005. It surpasses the gross earnings from tourism, which in 2005 was US$1.55 billion and is well ahead of gross earnings from the bauxite-alumina sector, which amounted to US$1 billion⁴.

University of the West Indies Lecturer, Keith Nurse in his study, Diaspora, Migration and Development in the Caribbean, illustrates the fact that remittance flows outstrip foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Official Development Assistance (ODA), by noting that between the period 1996 to 2001 remittances grew by 2.1 billion while FDI rose by US$2 billion and ODA declined by US$200 Million. He argues that that economic significance of the Diaspora to the region is underscored by the fact that remittances in territories such as Haiti, Guyana and Jamaica account for 24.2%, 16.6% and 12.2% of GDP respectively⁵.

There is no discounting the calculable impact of remittances to the Caribbean. Yet according to Manuel Orozco – a consultant to the Inter-American Dialogue – the Caribbean remittance market remains under-developed, implying that it is dominated by informal methods of transfer as well as monopolies and oligopolies. He cites inefficiency and lack of competition as two factors inimical to the costs of remittances to the Caribbean. Statistics from the World Bank indicates that at an average of 12.5% in 2002, the cost of remittances amounted to US$4 billion. Nurse gives credence to Orozco’s observations by explaining that the high rates of remittances “are due to low usage of banking institutions by remitters and recipients, the low level of competition and the oligopolistic structure of the remittance markets.”

Both observations underscore the need for Caribbean governments to facilitate greater remittance flows by reducing costs and expanding access to financial institutions in the Region.

Recommendations call for the removal of formal barriers to competition - including regulations that restrict micro-finance institutions from transferring remittances - as one of the measures to effectively optimise the benefits of remittances to the Caribbean. They also encourage the introduction of technology such as wireless Internet and debit cards to allow remittances to be received in rural areas where there are few banks. Of course this option has its attendant problems as in some remote rural areas of some Caribbean States the technological divide is quite gaping.

Policymakers in the region are not oblivious to these issues and have attempted to address them in the Declaration of Nuevo Leon from the Summit of the Americas held in Mexico in January 2004, which calls for increased competition and regulation of the remittances business.

Harnessing the Skills in the Diaspora

The Caribbean region has seen significant numbers of its best human capital migrate. This arguably jeopardises broader developmental goals and according to Nurse “creates labour gaps even in the context of high unemployment.” World Bank statistics indicate that the migration rate of the Caribbean tertiary graduates is among the highest in the world. In Jamaica for example, it is reported that an estimated 76% of Jamaicans with tertiary education live in the United States. This ‘brain drain’ has traditionally been considered a net loss for Caribbean countries.

The strategies recommended for stemming this drain include, expanding training capacities to meet the expanding demand at home and in the Diaspora. This however begs the question of who should fund this venture. It is also argued that with the establishment of the flagship CARICOM Single Market and Economy, (CSME) the seamless movement that CARICOM nationals now have may allow intellectual capital and skills to move across rather than out of the Caribbean.

In addition, academics have surmised that by utilising the skills and training of diaspora communities, Caribbean governments can counteract some of the repercussions of the brain drain. Percy Hintzen of the University of California at Berkeley has suggested that the Caribbean can - like China and India - take advantage of the current trend of outsourcing high-skilled jobs. He argues that Caribbean governments would have to attract some of the educated and skilled members of the Diaspora back into the home country. To do so, according to Hintzen, Caribbean governments must make a concerted outreach to their overseas communities through embassies and consulates, as well as establish ministries or sub-ministries dedicated to diaspora affairs, as in the case of Jamaica.

In addition, Hintzen encourages Caribbean governments to offer incentives to migrants to facilitate visits and retirement in the home country. In turn, he suggests, members of the Diaspora can use their acquired skills to work on projects in the home country and train local practitioners

Creative Export Industries

While the scope of the diaspora’s economic and social contributions to the Caribbean is significant, it extends well beyond unilateral transfer of remittances to niche markets such as the Caribbean creative industries. As Nurse (2004) points out, “the Caribbean Diaspora has long been the key market for cultural exports from the region.” The music industry is a case in point. Nurse asserts that countries such as the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago have fostered export markets in global cities such as New York, Miami, Toronto, London, Paris and Amsterdam due to the predominance of the Caribbean Immigrants. The value in terms of annual export earnings ranges from US$30 million in the case of Trinidad and Tobago to approximately US$50 – 60 Million in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic (Nurse 2003).

Studies have also cited Tourism and Sport as other sources of ‘diasporic export’ earnings for the region. In the case of tourism, it is said that tourists from the Diaspora account for the bulk of visitors to carnivals and reggae festivals in the region. The growth of ‘diasporic exports’ is also evident in the migration of professional sport players. It is estimated that there are over six hundred baseball players from the Dominican Republic operating in the US, Canada, Venezuela, Mexico and Japan⁶. From the English Speaking Caribbean, there is an undetermined number of track and field athletes along with football and cricket players, coaches and trainers operating in the United States. The level of repatriation of earnings from these professionals is not insignificant, though difficult to ascertain.

While it is agreed that ‘diasporic exports’ have become a vital asset for many Caribbean countries, Nurse laments that strategies for maximising their benefits have yet to be elaborated either through the human resource development schemes or in terms of trade facilitation mechanisms.

Conclusions

Notwithstanding the progress made by the movement in establishing working groups in the major metropolitan centres where Caribbean peoples reside, a great deal of work is left to be done to evolve the relationship between the two Caribbeans into a symbiotic one that can propel our Community to a higher level of socio-economic development.

Unfortunately, for now, the relationship is still heavily weighted towards economic paternalism, which is understandable, considering the economic deprivation of sections of our population. It is however a limiting factor in terms of the potential impact of the Diaspora on our development path, particularly at a time when the barriers to trade and investment are fast receding and especially considering that other nations with large overseas populations have apprehended the liberalising and globalising forces to boost their home economies.

The cases of Mainland China and Taiwan provide typical examples of the pro-active, developmental role played by the Diaspora. Both of these have benefited in the form of investment capital from their overseas communities, and in the case of mainland China, it is reported that the diaspora group represents its major source of foreign direct investment. Their scientists, professionals, and business people living in North America have reportedly been the source of transfer of technology, know-how, market intelligence, and a wide range of business-related skills. Their business people are said to have also played the vital role of promoting the entry of their goods to these markets.

The reciprocity of the relationship between the Diaspora in the United States and the Caribbean gives primacy to the social and economic development of our countries and our peoples.

These are therefore some of the fundamental issues that will no doubt form the crux of the dialogue at the Diaspora Forum on June 19 and 20. It is hoped that the end product will be clear strategies and policies on how the Community can solidify a working and workable relationship with the Diaspora in the United States. Indeed, a productive relationship buttressed by mutual interdependence and the synergies of the two Caribbeans.

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¹     Edward Kamau Brathwaite:  The Emigrants (1967)  From his:  Rights of Passage [excerpts]
²     Dennis Morrison (2006), Growing Economic Dependence on the Diaspora
³     Diasporas in Caribbean Development : Report of the Inter-American Dialogue and the World Bank 2004; p.1
⁴     Dr. Paul Robertson : Contribution to the Sectoral Debate, Jamaica 2005
^5.    Keith Nurse: Diaspora, Migration and Development in the Caribbean in FOCAL, 2004, p.5
^6.    Segal, Aaron (1996) 'Locating the Swallows : Caribbean Recycling Migration'; paper presented at the Caribbean Studies Association Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico