Maravi

CARICOM countries agree to unify economy by 2015

CARICOM countries agree to unify economy by 2015
By Larry Moonze in Havana, Cuba
Monday July 09, 2007 [04:00]

CARIBBEAN Community (CARICOM) leaders have put in motion the installing of a unified regional economy by 2015. According to a communiqué following a weeklong heads of government conference in Barbados, the leaders of the bloc pledged to invest in functional cooperation for the further development of the region’s human and social capital whose greatest dividend was the creation of a community for all.

The Caribbean leaders agreed to speed up measures to benefit the functioning of a common domestic space that included Air and Sea Agreement and a Capture Authorisation Treaty. The strategic plan for the market and united economy of the Caribbean is to be completed by June 2008.

The initiative of a unified Caribbean economy, the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME consists of freedom of movement of goods, services, capital, business enterprise and skilled labour within an area bounded by a customs union. The treaty requires harmonisation of policies, laws, and regulations, enhanced monetary cooperation, and common external economic policies.

The CSME in its totality establishes a single, seamless economic space and economic environment within which business and labour will operate. Its expected benefits include greater efficiency in private and public sectors, higher levels of domestic and foreign investment, increased employment, and growth of intra-regional trade and of extra-regional exports.

However, stakeholders generally agree that there was a huge ‘information deficit’ regarding the CSME among the ordinary citizens of the CARICOM.

Some citizens are cynical about the slow pace of implementation, while others are apprehensive about the possible adverse effects of increased competition for jobs and markets bringing to the fore the need for public education and consciousness-raising.

When assuming the CARICOM presidency, Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur recommended an integration programme that went beyond the economic sphere and included education, medical attention, protection of the environment, technological development, transportation, security and support for marginal groups.

“The Community of nations that CARICOM was designed to bring into effect was therefore meant to be a community for all. It was intended to be a community through which not just economic, but also social progress and benefits would be realised by the participating States and the citizens of our respective societies,” said Prime Minister Arthur.

In the communiqué, CARICOM leaders stated that they recognised the deepening of the regional integration process as critical to the community’s ability to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by the changes in the global economy.

They reaffirmed their determination to ensure equitable distribution among the peoples of CARICOM of the gains realised specifically through the implementation of the CSME and generally through the regional integration process.

“We are fully convinced that functional cooperation, conceived as the body of actions and activities that integrate the Community’s political, economic, security and social policy goals with its cultural, scientific, technological and environmental objectives, offers great opportunities for the future and therefore must permeate the work of every council and institution of the community and in this regard, contribute to the increase in the welfare and security of the community’s citizens,” read the declaration in part.
They also noted that the health of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was the wealth of the region.

The leaders stated that it was always crucial to emphasise the intrinsic and instrumental value of the health of the region’s people.
They committed themselves to working towards creating the conditions for equitable access, by every community citizen, to adequate healthcare in each CARICOM member state.

“We commit ourselves to working towards creating the conditions for equitable access for every CARICOM citizen to the necessary education and training that will allow them to realise their full potential as productive and creative members of our society,” they stated.

They welcomed the imminent introduction of the Caribbean Vocational qualification which would provide a credible, fair and transparent assessment of skills and competencies of community nationals as they move and work within the region.

Labels: CARICOM

posted by MrK @ 3:48 AM