CARICOM to host regional consultation on CSME

Representatives of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member countries will be meeting in Guyana over a two-day period to discuss the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and create ways to make the initiative more effective.
The stakeholder consultation is being hosted by Secretary General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque on behalf of the lead Head of Government for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.
The two-day consultation commences today at the Ramada Princess Hotel and is being facilitated with assistance from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
The activity will engage via a series of panels on what the CSME objectives and priority measures should be; a more and effective CSME; the Free Movement of

Persons and Public Awareness.
The findings and recommendations from the consultation are intended to be considered by the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) and also to inform the review of the CSME being undertaken by the CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government which will continue in a special session at its upcoming meeting next month.
Almost 50 participants are expected to attend and participate in the stakeholder consultation, including Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves and former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding.
Both Prime Ministers – Gonsalves and Golding – will be engaging in a high-level session focused on making the CSME more effective. That session takes place on the first day of the consultation and will be chaired by Joseph Cox, Assistant Secretary General, Trade and Economic Integration, CARICOM Secretariat.
Following the high-level session, a series of panels will discuss whether the CSME, as currently configured, sufficiently supports sustainable growth and development and the free movement of skills and persons as an integrating measure among other areas.