THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY ministers responsible for trade and economic development will shortly consider what is viewed as a very serious exercise in support of full integration of Belize and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) into the evolving CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
Presented as a descriptive and analytical 210-page report, it involved six months of work across the OECS subregion and Belize by the former three-term prime minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur.
Submitted by “Owen S Arthur and Consortium” the ‘consultancy’ was funded by the European Union (EU) in the context of its support for CARICOM. Arthur, who had lead responasibility for CSME-readiness arrangements while in government, held discussions with government leaders, ministers, technocrats, private sector and other representatives to complete four phases of his mandate.
As noted, the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas – envisages “a fully liberalised and integrated market” to facilitate sustained eonomic growth and development in member countries through production and export of internationally competitive goods and services.
Over the years, however, it became increasingly evident that the less developed countries (LDCs) of the 15-member Community were facing disadvantages from their size, structure and vulnerability.
Recognised as even more relevant, following the inauguration of the single market component of the CSME, was that the LDCs were facing “economic dislocation” as a consequence of the various regimes of the CSME.
A rupture between the so-called LDCs and More Developed Countries (MDCs) was, of course, never an option for CARICOM’s flagship project for a seamless regional economy by 2015 – a deadline now to be revised for later implementation.
Consequently, there came the consultancy assignment for the former Barbados Prime Minister by CARICOM in cooperation with the European Union to examine and make recommendations that could enable “the full integration” of the OECS and Belize in the CSME.
The “Arthur Report”, which is expected to be forwarded to Heads of Government following a decision by the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), has identified as one of the chief set of disparities “centres around the adverse circumstances and the weakening economic positions of the LDCs in absolute terms and relative to the position and prospects of the MDCs of the Community . . . .”
The wide-ranging report speaks to, among other aspects, the regimes for: Movement of services; capital and rights of establishment; and facilitating labour mobility, in addition to identifying specific needs of LDC states.
Once approved for action, it is to be hoped that the “Arthur Report” on the LDCs full integration into the CSME does not suffer the fate of the seminal work of Professor Norman Girvan that provided a roadmap for CARICOM’s march “Towards a Single Economy and a Single Development Vision”.
* Rickey Singh is a noted Caribbean journalist.
