Success of CSME lies at national level – Dominican PM

In light of mounting criticisms and talks of it being a fruitless initiative, Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit is of the view that for the Caribbean Community’s (Caricom) integrated development strategy – the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) – to be successful, efforts will have to be taken at the national level.

CSME is an initiative undertaken that allows for the free movement of skills, goods, services and labour across the Region. Its establishment was in response to the changing global environment that has led to a loss of preferential markets in Europe several years ago.
Prime Minister Skerrit, who is also the Chairman of the 37th Heads of Government Conference held in Guyana last week, pointed out that leaders in the Region need to ensure that when decisions are taken at Caricom level, necessary actions are adopted, especially at the national level, since a number of the policies agreed upon require national implementation.
“We need to ensure that our Ministers meet,” he remarked, stating that if regional Ministers of ICT (Information, Communication and Technology) are mandated to examine a particular matter in order to advise heads, then they must make themselves available to meet. He added too that Finance Ministers and Attorney Generals within Caricom must meet to advance a number of the critical legal issues that will advance the integration process.
“We have given the Heads of Government Conference assurances that we will ensure that our Ministers avail themselves for consultations on those critical matters,” he noted.
The Chairman went on to say that one of the measures that the regional Heads have adopted is not to leave it to their Ministers and others to set the timetables. He said the Heads will now be responsible for setting the timetables and indicating, for example, Ministers of the ICT must meet before the end of September 2016 to consider the new vision for the ‘Single ICT’ space in the Region and prepare to report to the February 2017 Meeting in Guyana.
“So, I think it’s a matter of monitor and ensuring that we follow through on some of the actions taken at the conference level,” he posited. However, the Dominican Prime Minister cautioned that at the same time, they have to be careful that they do not attempt to bite too much at one time.
Nevertheless, the Conference Chairman said that the Heads are doing a review on the CSME to ascertain “where we are, what are the actions we’ve taken and what are the outstanding considerations to advance in our move towards to greater integration of the Caribbean Community”.
A report on the comprehensive review will be presented and considered at the intercessional meeting next February.
“Now that review, is in an effort to keep the process forward and not change or revisit any of the actions that we have taken thus far to strengthen the integration process… We are fully committed to implementing all elements of the CSME regime as we remain convinced it is our only option to achieve sustainable growth and development in the Caribbean,” Skerrit posited.
While the Chairman is confident about the future of the CSME, there continues to be tension among Member States which are reportedly breaching the agreement with regards to free movement and trade.
In fact, only recently, tension intensified between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago over the same issues. There have been reports of Jamaicans being harassed by immigration officers in Trinidad, with many of them even being denied entry into the twin-island republic.
The Trinidadian Government had posited that it reserved the right to assert the sovereignty of its country by determining who is allowed in. However, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness during a press briefing on the sideline of the Conference told media operatives that he is looking forward to a “positive” response from the twin-island on the many complaints of Jamaicans being denied entry into Port of Spain.
According to the Prime Minister, he is expecting a report from his Trinidadian counterpart, Dr Keith Rowley, when he visits Jamaica later this month.
“We’ve had direct discussions, and frank discussions with the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and I believe the Government has responded in a very positive way and I am expecting to have a positive report in a few week’s time when Prime Minister Rowley visits Jamaica,” Holness related last week.