(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will be moving one step closer to creating a Single Domestic Space when it implements the CARICOM Travel Card (CARIPASS) by the end of 2009.
At their 30th Summit held in Georgetown, Guyana last week, CARICOM Heads of Government agreed to proposals for implementing CARIPASS, the travel card that will enhance regional security and support expedited travel throughout participating CARICOM Member States.
The Travel Card, which was approved by the Twenty-Ninth CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government in July 2008, is a voluntary regime which will allow eligible CARICOM Nationals and legal residents to clear Immigration using designated electronic gates in Immigration halls.
According to an earlier Release from the Implementing Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), the lead agency for the development of CARIPASS, the Card would, in the first instance, be implemented in ten CARICOM Member States, namely, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. The system would eventually be available for use in all CARICOM Member States.
Heads of Government also agreed to proposals for full implementation of the Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS), which, as part of the legislation for the hosting Cricket World Cup 2007, had remained in place to help bolster border protection.
At the Eighth Meeting of the Council of Ministers Responsible for Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE) held in Suriname in late May, CARICOM Secretary-General His Excellency Edwin Carrington had expressed concern at the pace of the legal framework for the implementation of both the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) and its accompanying Advance Customs Information System (ACIS) and called on Member States to enact the required legislation as a matter of priority.
With regard to other security matters, Heads of Government agreed to re-activate the security facilities put in place for CWC 2007 and the Fifth Summit of the Americas for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November 2009 and the ICC World 20/20 Tournament to be held in the Caribbean in 2010, and commended the Government of Trinidad and Tobago – who will also be hosting the CHOGM – for their successful hosting of the Fifth Summit.
The CARICOM Heads of Government had also agreed to implement programmes for the control of small arms and light weapons associated with violent crimes and gang violence.
They discussed the pledge made by the President of the United States of America during the Summit of the Americas of US$30 million to support the joint development of a strategy of co-operation, mutually beneficial partnership and information sharing with the Caribbean, and determined the way forward to engaging the United States. They further agreed to revive the Resource Mobilisation Sub-Committee (RMC) to manage the US assistance in the area of security and other offers.
