Blog

New Commentaries posted

Saturday 12 May 2012

The most recent commentary entitled.Caribbean Rum facing threat in the US, looks at threats to Caribbean rum producers in the US market arising from the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico using tax refunds from the US Federal government to subsidise the establishment of huge rum manufacturers in their territories and further to subsidise their marketing on the US mainland. Costly and time consuming arbitration at the WTO is an option, but the commentary argues this should be avoided in favour of early high-level meetings between the US and the Caribbean to reach a mutually agreeable arrangement.

Caribbean Rum Runner Costume

The previous commentary, Poles melt, we drown, looks at the disastrous effects of melting glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctica on small islands and coastal areas as sea level rises. It recalls that in 1982, the just independent Caribbean state of Antigua and Barbuda raised the question of Antarctica at the United Nations, at a time when few were taking Climate Change seriously.

Antarctica - melting ice causes sea level rise

The previous commentary discusses the decision of the Trinidad and Tobago government to move partial jurisdiction for finall appelate matters from the British Privy Council to the Caribbean Court of Justice. It is a half-way house that may not be achieveble, and satisfies neither one thing or the other. The commentary is entitled Trinidad and the CCJ - Still loitering.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago

The rapidly changing economic and political environment of Guyana is the subject of two commentaries published by the international magazine, Global -International Briefings in the Second Quarter of 2012. the two commentaries: Guyana: The difficulties of a minority government and The allure of new riches can be found as PDF files in the Lectures section of this website.

New Report on the Commonwealth after Perth

Friday 4 May 2012

In January 2012, The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, held an in-depth and wide ranging Conference at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, on the the Commonwealth after Perth (the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference). The event was attended by many experts on the Commonwealth including academics, writers, diplomats and the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Kamalesh Sharma. Sir Ronald Sanders, as a member of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group that produced for the 2011 CHOGM a seminal report on the future of the Commonwealth, was among the Speakers. The full report of the Conference is posted under "Lectures" on this website.

All posts...

Latest Commentaries

More commentaries...

Sir Ronald Sanders is a business executive and former Caribbean diplomat who publishes widely on Small States in the global community.

Welcome

Welcome to this website. I have created it in response to many requests for access to commentaries I have written, lectures I have given and interviews that have been broadcast or printed in the media on matters related to the political economy of the Caribbean and the Commonwealth.

These requests have come from university students, publications, academics, government officials and business people in many parts of the world. In the course of responding to these requests, I have been pleased to build up a network of global contacts who now receive my commentaries weekly.

From a career that encompassed broadcast and print journalism, development and commercial banking, diplomacy and international negotiations in both the public and private sectors, I am privileged to draw on wide and varied experiences to write, lecture and undertake consultancies. I have taken the greatest pleasure in receiving comments and criticism from people all over the world that the Internet has made a “village”. I have learned from many of the comments I received. They have caused me to reflect on my own thinking. Through this website, I hope to communicate regularly with all who write to me.

The website is now a permanent repository of the weekly commentaries going back several years. Anyone is free to access them here, and to cite them provided my permission is sought in advance through the “Contact me” mechanism. A few of the lectures I have given in Britain and in the Caribbean are also posted on the site in a PDF format which can be easily downloaded. Again, I would make the same request to seek my permission before citing the material.

From time to time, where it is possible, the site will also reflect consultancies that I undertake that may have an interested audience beyond the companies and organizations with which I work.

I invite responses to my writings, and inquiries about the experience and knowledge I can bring to achieving the objectives of companies and organizations that do business related to the Caribbean and the Commonwealth.

My consulting work includes: country investment advice; negotiations with governments and international organizations; structuring and implementing public affairs programmes; designing public relations and information strategies; negotiations with financial institutions and organizing and participating in seminars for interest groups such as journalists, diplomats, and specialized academics.

Kind regards

Ronald Sanders