The Organs of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) must move to adopt a greater sense of urgency and clarity of purpose if the Region is to successfully navigate the current difficult circumstances.
Prime Minister of Barbados, the Hon. Mia Mottley delivered this charge Tuesday at the opening of the Fifty-Second Meeting of the COTED.
Prime Minister Mottley, who is Lead Head of Government with responsibility for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) in the CARICOM Quasi Cabinet, said that if ever the Region needed to see progress, it was now, and that the Region needed to rely heavily on integration and cooperation.
“If ever there was a time that the Region needs to rely on reginal cooperation and regional integration, it is absolutely now within the context of what we are going to face in the post-pandemic period, and we are not yet there but we can begin to see already what it is looking like,” she said, as she highlighted the possibility of emerging debt and financial crises “if we are not careful”.
She drew to the attention of delegates the “double-digit declines” of countries and pointed out that there was need now for “a greater sense of urgency and greater clarity of purpose by the organs of the Community, in particular, COTED.”
VAST MANDATE
Pointing out the vast mandate of the COTED, CARICOM Secretary-General, Amb. LaRocque said it was a major driver of the Community’s integration efforts. Under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, COTED has responsibility for the CSME which Amb. LaRocque described as “a massive task” that had produced mixed results.
“These times demand that the full implementation of the CSME should be our pre-eminent task. The COVID-19 pandemic has created havoc in our societies – both in economic and human development terms. Lives and livelihoods have been lost; public finances have been curtailed; our health systems have been challenged; and the education of our children has been interrupted.
“In order to face these challenges, we must devote much more attention to building resilience, including into our production systems. The CSME is the platform for transforming the economic structures of Member States, and building the resilience necessary for dealing with the increasing number of external and internal economic shocks,” the Secretary-General told delegates.
In this regard, he highlighted work that was advanced, including the adoption of Protocols on Contingent Rights and on Public Procurement; agreement on Policies on Credit Reporting and on Deposit Insurance; a Food and Nutrition Security Plan; a Strategy for Advancing the CARICOM Agri Foods Agenda was being worked on by a Ministerial Task Force; and a Multilateral Air Services Agreement that was in force. He also spoke of the work of the Region’s newest Associate Institution, the Caribbean Private Sector Organisation (CPSO) which had put on the table a plan for reducing the food import bill by 25 percent by 2025, and was actively engaged in the work of the COTED.
“We need now to press on with urgency to complete the full implementation of the CSME. The removal of remaining barriers to intra-regional trade, for example, must be among the priorities. The regime of free movement of skills and persons is how our citizens gauge the effectiveness of integration. The implementation of the agreed-on expansion of categories of skilled workers would help to promote a deeper sense of belonging among our citizens,” he said.
Amb. LaRocque added that in order to urgently advance CSME implementation, the COTED had to be “more strategic and senior officials need to meet more often in order to resolve the issues that keep recurring on the agenda among other things.”
HEIGHTENED CHALLENGES
Jamaica Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith is chairing the two-day Ministerial. She alluded to the period of heightened challenges in which the COTED was being held. She cited the economic stress occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine inequity, vulnerability to negative impacts of climate change and natural disasters and the devastating effects of the eruption of La Soufriere volcano in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) of the @CARICOMorg– largely responsible for the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market & Economy commences its two-day 52nd Regular Meeting today (June 1). Jamaica, led by Sen. The Hon. @kaminajsmith, Chairs the Meeting. pic.twitter.com/cZC0V549nv
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade GOJ (@mfaftja) June 1, 2021
“In the face of these realities, the imperative of focused recovery is clear. We must ensure that our collective efforts to empower our citizens and continue the process of transforming our Community through trade and development opportunities. We owe this to future generations,” Minister Johnson Smith said.
She also referred to the mixed fortunes of the CSME and pointed out that there was room for “much improvement” in the rate of its implementation.
Minister of State Ramon Cervantes and the team at Foreign Trade are participating today in the 52nd Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED). @CARICOMorg pic.twitter.com/07dS7eVAUN
— Belize MFAFT ?? (@MFABelize) June 1, 2021
The discussions will include focus on the CSME; matters related to trade in goods; the implementation of the Multilateral Air Services Agreement and developments at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Minister Johnson Smith announced that new Director General of the WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, will join delegates on Wednesday for discussions on pressing issues on the multilateral trade front. The Director General will also provide her perspective on access to vaccines “a matter that is clearly a vexed one”, the COTED Chair said.
A Meeting of trade officials in early May laid the groundwork for the Ministerial session.
