Why DEFER FTAA BID?

The suggestion by Downtown Owners’ Merchants Association (DOMA) President, Gregory Aboud, that Trinidad and Tobago should defer its bid for Port-of-Spain to be the headquarters of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) because there were “concerns about crime in the city” is untimely and puzzling. Surely, the DOMA President should appreciate that not only is his statement likely to be misinterpreted by sections of the United States of America media, particularly in Miami, Port-of-Spain’s closest rival for the siting of the FTAA headquarters, but that any deferring of our bid would automatically rule out our capital city and instead possibly lead to Miami being chosen. Aboud may have conveyed the impression, however unwittingly, that representatives and/or officials of FTAA countries were likely to be under constant threat should the FTAA Secretariat be sited here.

This is not to say that crime is not a matter of concern which needs to be tackled vigourously by the law enforcement agencies. Indeed, Newsday has condemned repeatedly what this newspaper has noted as intolerable levels of serious crime here.  We believe, nonetheless, that with improved policing methods, upgrading of crime fighting technology, positive parenting, the motivating of our young people and across the board provision of skills training, that today’s uncomfortable minus can be turned into tomorrow’s plus. The country can not withdraw and wait until it feels itself purged of all crime before it seeks to be an international centre. Trinidad and Tobago, even with the existing level of crime, incidentally much lower than most other countries, was still able to attract as investors some of the world’s energy majors.  They have invested billions of dollars in plant, machinery, technology and highly qualified personnel. Today they are providing Government billions of dollars in revenue from corporation and other taxes and their companies’ shareholders with considerably more in dividends. 

Government was not deterred from inviting them by the existence and level of crime.  It effectively marketed the opportunities which the country had to offer, and the investors, in turn, saw beyond the minuses to the advantages of doing business here.  Nonetheless, it must move with equal vigour against existing crime levels. In the mid 1980s, Miami was confronted with a sharp fall off in overseas visitor traffic and foreign and internal investor interest, because of a sharp increase in crime. Miami did not defer or cancel its hitherto successful strategy of attracting visitor traffic and revenue to the city.  Instead, it stepped up law enforcement action against the predators and  launched a massive marketing campaign in western Europe in an effort to persuade persons living there that effective steps were being taken to ensure their safety. Admittedly, Trinidad and Tobago needs to address the problem of crime referred to by the DOMA head, and it must do it quickly and effectively as well as tell America and Europe — this from the standpoint of tourism and investment — both what it is doing and the success rate it hopes to achieve. 

Our courts, when bandits brought before them and found guilty, should have a near uniformity in sentencing. With a 17-nation support for its bid to host the FTAA Secretariat, Trinidad and Tobago is almost there. However, to “defer” its bid at  this or any point will be to lose the opportunity to have the headquarters here as well as be saddled with the negative image of a country which surrendered its chance to be on the international stage, because of crime levels.  North American cities in the running, some with beams in their eyes will launch a media assault on this country’s mote.  We should follow Miami’s example of some two decades ago and in the process reach the tapes well ahead of that city in the crucial race to be the headquarters of the Free Trade Area of the Americas.