More could have been done to move CSME forward, says Caricom SG
ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — Caricom’s outgoing Secretary General, Irwin LaRocque says “much more” could have been achieved within the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) and the time had come to allow member states who could proceed to the ideals of the initiative to do so.
Speaking on Monday at the opening ceremony of the 42nd annual meeting of Caricom leaders, LaRocque nonetheless insisted that the regional integration movement had been a catalyst for significant improvement in the lives of the people of the region.
LaRocque, who is demitting office later this month after serving two five-year terms as the region’s top public servant, said that the CSME, had been the driving force behind several policies, programmes and systems for a further deepening of the integration process.
“A lot of time and effort have been spent putting in place policies, programmes and systems for the private sector, labour and the overall population to benefit from the CSME,” LaRocque told the opening ceremony of the 42nd annual meeting of Caricom leaders.
The CSME, which came into being in 2006, allows for the free movement of goods, skills, labour and services across the region, and LaRocque said that the categories of free movement of skills have been expanded and that a protocol outlining the rights of spouses and dependents who accompany the skilled worker to another member state has been agreed.
He said new business opportunities have been created. A public procurement protocol opening a market estimated at five billion US dollars for businesses within the member states has been signed, and the online dashboard advertising tenders has been established.
The outgoing secretary general said that the aviation sector has also been liberalised with the coming into force of the Multilateral Air Services Agreement.
“It is my expectation that as more airlines make use of this agreement, it will allow for greater choice of movement throughout our community and contribute, with competition, to lowering airfares,” LaRocque said, adding “these are but some examples of what has been put in place within the last decade for the people of our community to be able to realise the benefits of the CSME as a lived experience”.
He said other steps have been made to buttress the welfare of the people of the community and that there has been progress in greater cooperation among member states to combat crime in the region, as well as building a legal architecture.
“Three major legal instruments were agreed to in this regard. I refer to the Caricom Arrest Warrant Treaty, the Treaty with Respect to Return and Sharing of Recovered Assets from Criminal Activity, and the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty,” LaRocque said, noting that these treaties provide the regional law enforcement and justice systems with the tools to engage those whose criminal activities respect no borders.
But he acknowledged that he would be the “first to recognise that more could have been accomplished, particularly with the CSME”.
“A lot of preparatory technical work has been done, and redone, by the Secretariat. But because of our decision-making process, we can only move as fast as the slowest member state.”
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