A wide range of issues relating to the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSM&E) will come under the microscope in at least three Member States of the Caribbean Community in May.
In a series of consensus building exercises, officials from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat’s Programme on the Single Market, the Technical Action Services Unit (TASU) and the Communications Unit will meet with public and private sector officials in Saint Lucia, Dominica and Belize starting in May 1999.
The initiative will take the form of workshops/consultations including presentations and discussions, and will take place in Belize May 10 -12 , Dominica May 17 and 18 and Saint Lucia May 20 and 21.
The CARICOM Secretariat will work closely with leading national business umbrella organisations such as the Chambers of Commerce in the Member States to be visited. While the workshops/consultations are joint initiatives, the effort is being spearheaded by TASU, a unit within the CARICOM Secretariat specifically established to assist Member States with implementation issues relating to the CSM&E.
For this round of consensus building, officials in attendance will give an overview of the development of the CSM&E. Attention too will be focused on issues addressed in Protocols III, IV, VI, VII and IX.
The Treaty of Chaguaramas, the treaty which established CARICOM is being amended by way of Protocols for the creation of the Single Market and Economy. There are nine Protocols and the ones on which presentations will take place during this round of consensus building exercises address the Movement of Goods, Services and Capital (Protocol II); Regional Trade Policy (Protocol IV), Regional Transportation Policy (Protocol VI), Disadvantaged Countries, Regions and Sectors (Protocol VII) and Competition Policy (Protocol IX).
The decision of CARICOM Heads of Government to move towards a Single Market and Economy was made in 1989 in Grenada. Since then the Heads of Government have accorded the highest priority to the achievement of the CSM&E, recognising its critical role in facilitating regional competitiveness and enabling the survival of the Region within the complexities of a dynamic global arena.
These consensus building initiatives come out of the realisation that an understanding of the key policy issues that inform decision-making and the implications of the decisions, demand a constant and continuous process of national and regional consultations that foster consensus-building, and can positively impact on the implementation of decisions particularly with respect to those related to the CS.
