According to the business dictionary .com multilateral agreement is any agreement among three or more parties .The term usually refers to agreement between multiple nations or international organisations ,but any agreement between more than two individuals, business or agencies may also be described as a multilateral agreement.Other names for multilateral agreement include treaties, accords or conventions CARICOM stands for Caribbean Community and Common Market and is defined as an organization made up of 15 Caribbean nations to promote economic integration among members and `according to the Longman Dictionary of Contempory English 2000" no longer necessary" means needless,non-essential or, unnecessray
Esteem judges according to our understanding and interpretations the redefined moot now reads ,"because of agreements or treaties among more than two organisations or nations caricom is needless."
Honourable judges in opposition to todays moot, my colleagues and i will prove to you beyond the shadow of doubt that caricom is necessary and will always be essential regardless of multilateral agreement.
I will be expounding on some of the real challenges of multilateralism and its disadvantages
My second speaker selena shewram will give you a brief history on caricom and why as a member of state caricom is essential
My third speaker Kwaiann Nelson will present you with an example on how multilateral agreements can delay the time in which an action is carried out and concludes our teams argument . Esteem judges I will begin my teams argument by focussing on the challenges of multilateral agreement.Members of the proposition In comparison to unilateralism and bilateralism where only the country itself decides on what to do between two nations,multilateralism is much more complex and challenging.colleagues of the proposition very often when someone refers to a "multilateral agreement "he is referring to a trade agreement among three or more nations for example ,the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is a multilateral trade agreement among USA Canada and Mexico.
Judges according to Michael Wesley" multilateralism was and i repeat was important to the economic success of the west after 1945 but the success of multilateral institutions in the post war era should not make us assume that such an approach will deliver the international policy goods" end of quote .Most learned friends of the proposition we should not discard caricom based on the assumption that because multilateral agreements was a success during the post war period for the west that it will be so now for caribbean countries why should we forsake caricom when we are a part of caricom?
Esteem judges multilateralism involves a number of nations which makes reaching an agreement difficult.In multilaterism there may be no consensus ;each nation has to dedicate to some degree to make the best outcome for all.In so doing priority takes centre stage, and this can make taking any action more difficult or at least slow things down .it also means that a government cannot get everything that it wants or does not get what it wants in a timely manner.Proposition members you need to remember that this is an agreement among more than two nation and,different countries and government will have different priorities and different ideas as to what actions should be taken in what order and with what goals.Esteem judges acting multilaterally can mean compromising on both the timeline and goals of a proposed action. Proposition members are you willing to sacrifice bilateralism and unilaterism by deeming Caricom non-essential ?
Proposition members if multilateral agreement has proven to be so successful why then has the united states rejected such an agreement in1996?Esteem judges i wish to quote an abstract from an article written by Christopher Steven on the topic of our debate today. open quote,"US state in October 1999 refused to ratify the comprehensive Test Ban Treaty which president Bill Clinton had signed in September 1996.Under president George W Bush the US rejected such multilateral agreements as the Kyoto Protocol ,the international Criminal Court"also under Bush administration the United States withdrew from the Anti Ballastic Missile Treaty end of quote.Americas withdrawal from these agreement or treaties are clear evidences of the failure of Multilateralism. Proposition members how useful are these multilateral institutions to the 21st century world politics? Christopher Stevens extract clearly shows that there are many challenges as a result of multilateral agreements. proposition members if the US which is considered one of the most powerful nation has been withdrawing from multilateral agreements then Caricom should not be deemed needless or non essential. since it has been working for us in the Caribbean region where member countries have bilateral agreements and each can decide on whats our priority individually and work towards achieving our goals in our timeline as against multilateral agreement where what is your country priority might not be the priority of the group thus your plan may take a longer time to be realised

with these glaring evidences of some of the challenges i do hope that my colleagues of the proposition are convinced that Caricom is essential and will always be essential.