(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) must take into account necessity, urgency and resources required when setting its targets and be mindful of “what it can, and cannot do”, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, CARICOM Secretary-General, said Wednesday.
Delivering the feature address to the Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association quarterly business luncheon at the Regency Suites in Georgetown, Guyana, the Secretary-General posited that in order to fulfill the objectives of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and those of the Community “we must do business differently”.
The Community, the Secretary-General told his audience, was at a crucial juncture in its integration arrangements, and stakeholders had sent a clear message that the Region must move with urgency to fulfill the goals of integration or “at least deliver on what you say you will deliver”.
He warned against setting “over-ambitious and unrealistic targets” which doomed the Region to apparent failure when they were not met.
“There is just so much that can be done given our realities, and the time has come for us to cut our suit to fit the cloth with which we have been endowed. This is nothing new. I have been saying this since coming into office. The Community needs to prioritise. This is in keeping with the views of the Heads of Government who, at a Retreat last May here in Guyana, decided on a list of priorities based on that realisation. We need to agree on these critical things that must get done; focus on them; get them done; and get them off the regional agenda so that we can take on new realistic priorities. The current mode of trying to get everything done at the same time is inefficient and contributes to gridlock, the so-called implementation deficit,” the Secretary-General said.
Zeroing in on the Report of Independent Consultants on the Restructuring of the CARICOM Secretariat – which was the subject of articles and analyses in the regional media over the past week – Ambasador LaRocque said the dictum of doing business differently at the Secretariat and in the Community was supported by the Report. The document, which will be considered by the CARICOM Heads of Government during their Inter-sessional Meeting 8-9 March in Suriname, pointed out that the Region needed to be more realistic about the constraints posed by geography and physical and market size.
Touching on the role of the Secretariat, the Secretary-General reiterated that the administrative arm of the integration movement could not be all things to all persons, and pointed out that its role would be determined in large measure by the response of the Heads of Government to the Report of the Independent Consultants. “…I must make the point that the view that all things CARICOM are within the purview of the CARICOM Secretariat is erroneous. There cannot be responsibility without authority. A critical element in going forward, therefore, must be a clear understanding that the Secretariat can no longer be all things to all persons. If we are to be more effective, we must be focused and adequately resourced to play any role that is envisaged by our Heads of Government. Or, to repeat, we must prioritize in keeping with the resources available to us,” he asserted.
While he acknowledged the malaise that has crept over the integration movement, the Secretary-General pointed out that meeting the legitimate expectations of the people of the Community had become more challenging when the effects of the global economic and financial crises were still reverberating.
“I am not at all suggesting that the malaise in which we find ourselves is only and totally due to the global crises, but it certainly has exacerbated it. Also, it has brought to the fore the need once again to take stock of what we are doing and how we are doing it; how effective we are, and are we delivering,” the Secretary-General said.
