The Sixth Meeting of the Community Council of Ministers – the second highest Organ of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) – opened at the Sherbourne Centre in Barbados this morning with a determination to focus on issues that would lead to the creation of a more robust and relevant Community.
Describing the Meeting as a “critical step along that road”, CARICOM’s Secretary-General, Mr. Edwin Carrington, said delegates will have to establish mechanisms for the effective incorporation of Haiti into the Community, as well as grapple with the sensitive issue of border difficulties between two Member States – Guyana and Suriname.
“But if on your Agenda today there are difficulties to be dealt with which can threaten the fabric of the Community, (a direct reference to the Guyana/Suriname border difficulties), there are also issues the successful completion of which can represent a giant leap in Community building,” Mr. Carrington noted.
Apart from discussing the Guyana/Surinam border issue, delegates will also focus on the integration of Haiti into CARICOM, a proposal from the Region’s Chief Immigration Officers for the institution of a CARICOM Passport, and ideas for greater involvement of Civil Society in Community activities.
“These issues reinforce the importance of the work of this Council which is faced with increasing responsibilities as the Community develops,” Mr. Carrington stated.
Incoming Chairman of the Community Council, St. Kitts and Nevis Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, the Hon. Sam Condor, reiterated the importance of the Meeting in strengthening the institutional framework for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), and what he termed the “New Community”.
According to Mr. Condor, CARICOM must adjust early to deal with new realities which will affect the structure and functioning of its institutions, while ensuring that it has “the capacity to take on board the new vision of the Community in the Twenty-first century”.
He pointed to Haiti’s prospective full membership into the Community as a process that demands “focused attention and innovative responses from all of us”.
Haiti is presently a provisional member of CARICOM. Once the election process is completed in Haiti, then its Parliament is expected to move to ratify its membership into the Community.
Outgoing Chairman of the Community Council, Barbados’ Deputy Prime Minister Billie Miller, called on delegates to play a more active and decisive role in promoting, monitoring and ensuring the timely implementation of Community decisions.
“We must tackle unresolved policy issues and bring sensible solutions to the table of the Heads,” Ms. Miller said.
She warned that CARICOM faces an “uphill task” in making the CARICOM Single Market and Economy – its flagship programme for the Twenty-first century – a reality.
“For indeed if we are to cope successfully with the challenges which are ahead of us, it is imperative that we fashion a new Caribbean Community,” Ms. Miller said. “There is no other road for us to take. And there is an urgent need for our sense of resolve and commitment to the process to be unequivocally demonstrated.”
