Stuart: Region has done well

PRIME MINISTER Freundel Stuart has dismissed charges that the regional integration movement had achieved little and was on the verge of collapse.
He told the House of Assembly today there had been so much success that it had become “the envy of integration movements across the world”.
Stuart was contributing to debate on a bill to amend the Civil Aviation Act, to provide for the agreement establishing the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS); and empower the Director of Civil Aviation and aviation inspectors to detain aircraft and prohibit holders of aviation documents from exercising certain privileges, in the interest of safety, thereby complying with the safety oversight requirements established by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
His comments came against the backdrop of charges by politicians, political analysts and the Press that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), at the core of the movement, continued to be long on talk and promises and short on action.
The Prime Minister said he was “quite disappointed” by the comments of “publicists” who give the impression that “we’ve achieved nothing, the regional integration movement is about to collapse [and] the leaders don’t know what they’re doing”. (TY)