Look at new ways of implementing CSME – CDB rep tells regional stakeholders

As regional stakeholders gather in Georgetown to discuss the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) initiative over a two-day session, they were urged to look at what was done wrong in the past and urged to correct them so that the Region can foster going forward.
Addressing a gathering of regional stakeholders at the Ramada Princess Hotel on Friday, Director of the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) Economic Department, Dr Justin Ram said the Region needs to move away from the old way of doing things and focus on the new way of working to move the CSME initiative forward.

“We really need to step back today and take a look at what we’re doing in the Region so that we can jump better into the future… I think that we can flip those challenges and boost the resilience of our Region,” he posited.
The CDB representative urged that the over 50 participants from around the Region leave the consultations with a major focus on implementing the CSME.
The two-day consultation session will feature presentations from key personalities in the Region, including St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves; and former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
The ex-Jamaican leader believes some member states are of the view that the CSME in its full implementation is likely to do them more harm than good, and as such, he noted that there needs to be a serious and frank discussion.
“The impact of the CSME in its full implementation on each member country, Mr Secretary General, needs to be carefully analysed to identify the benefits, the opportunities, the risks and the downsides. That would lead us to a more informed position whether to get out of it, whether it encourages the enthusiasm that it requires or whether to say to the Caribbean people look… ‘it is not going to work’”, Golding asserted.
He went on to point out that hardly any excuse or explanation proffered by a member state for the lengthy time taken to fully implement the CSME. Golding added too that matters which have been pondered on for decades are less challenging than the matters to which the Region is yet turn its attention to. These include areas such as economic conversion, free movement of people, free circulation of goods – matters that are central to the existence and functioning of a Single Market and Economy.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Gonsalves in his presentation outlined that while the CSME has many aspiring components for the long-run, emphasis should be placed on what can be done now.
“The currency convertibility and the freedom of movement… I don’t think they are going to happen in five years, I don’t think they are going to happen in my lifetime so I believe that we should keep those as aspirational and do many practical things that we can do immediately and in the foreseeable future,” Prime Minister Gonsalves posited.
Continuing on the trend of implementing the CSME initiative, Caricom’s Secretary General, Ambassador Irwin LaRoque opined that while the Region has achieved a lot under the CSME initiative, there is still so much more to be done.
However, he bemoaned the slothfulness at which policies are being adopted and implemented by member states.
“We need to move agenda along a lot faster. The time we take to get things done is a cost to the Private Sector and is a cost in terms of credibility to the community at large… We have things now on the agenda for eight, nine, 10 years; it’s not acceptable and we have to be honest about it. Either we get it done and we find a way of getting it done or we move onto some other issue,” Ambassador LaRoque noted.
The two-day consultation session will allow a series of panel discussions 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 this engagement will 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 Conference at its upcoming meeting next month.