WE RETURN to this vexed question of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, which remains the saving grace for all regional economies, whether in or out of a global recession.
This region will not advance economically until the shackles of insularity are removed.
The truth is that collectively, the Caribbean is a small market. For agriculture and manufacturing to survive, there must be free and unimpeded access for all products, people and investment within CARICOM.
It is our view that if these markets are opened up to full integration, there will be rapid economic expansion within CARICOM. There needs to be full harmonization of laws and functional cooperation among countries – whatever the difficulties – and a good dose of political courage.
Despite considerable rhetoric, there seems to be commitment paralysis among the leaders. So much so that the current chairman, President Desi Bouterse of Suriname, recently said there needed to be political will from “elected officials” to further the integration agenda.
Spectacular failure
The persistent irritant of trade and protectionist policies, especially within the two larger countries of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, has the potential to derail the movement. Though larger, their markets are small in terms of their potential size of production. They therefore need CARICOM more than the smaller countries do.
Protectionism has been a spectacular failure throughout history where inefficient companies were underwritten by subsidies, only to fail as soon as competition arrives or technology overtakes them.
Our recent Barbados Manufacturers’ Exhibition should expose the folly of protectionist policies since they stifle innovation and creativity and encourage a reluctance by companies to seek out export markets for their products.
Small companies cannot survive without CARICOM.
Recent comments by Jamaica Opposition Member of Parliament Karl Samuda expose a myopia that does more harm than good. He was bellyaching inter alia about the proposed sale of natural gas by Trinidad and Tobago to Barbados and called for a review of the Treaty of Chaguaramas. The tirade may suit him politically, but it is this kind of thinking that CARICOM can do without.
Exactly 50 years after the break-up of the Federal experiment, another Jamaican is again calling for Jamaica to pull out. Unlike 1962, it should be given a fond farewell.
