GEORGETOWN – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders will be “taking a look at the thorny issues” confronting the full implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) during their summit which ends today.
Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, who has lead responsibility for the CSME within the quasi-CARICOM Cabinet, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that while he was not in a position to outline the recommendations going before the leaders, he was certain the initiative had been very beneficial so far to the Caribbean population.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has indicated that Port of Spain will be placing on the agenda the CSME that is observing its10th anniversary.
The CSME allows for the free movement of goods, skills, labour and services but has been dogged by problems, including allegations by some states that their nationals are not being allowed to freely enter member nations.
Stuart told CMC the speech delivered by his St Vincent and the Grenadines counterpart, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, in which he was critical of people who felt that CARICOM had been a failure, was “very interesting in that regard because as I said in Barbados last year (CARICOM summit), we have a way of tending to accentuate what has not happened and a way of losing sight of, in fact, what has happened.
“I do not think that the situation is as grave as I heard described. I think the focus is on what has not yet happened.
“Let us be very frank about it that. Over the last seven to eight years, our region has been under pressure from events taking place in the international environment. Most of our member states have had to be inward looking with a view to ensuring that they deal with the hot immediacies of everyday governance.”
He added that at the summit, “we are going to be having a look at what are the thorny issues that need to be resolved, what are the mountains we need to climb to bring to full or near full realisation the [CSME]”. (CMC)