Comply or face consequences
(L-R) Caricom Secretary General, Irwin LaRocque; Caricom Chairman, President David Granger; and incoming Caricom Chairman, Grenada ‘s Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, at Friday’s press conference following the conclusion of the 28 Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM
(L-R) Caricom Secretary General, Irwin LaRocque; Caricom Chairman, President David Granger; and incoming Caricom Chairman, Grenada ‘s Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, at Friday’s press conference following the conclusion of the 28 Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM

— CARICOM warns states that fail to comply with policies agreed upon

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has issued a strong warning to member states that fail to comply with decisions agreed upon by the regional bloc.

Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves engaging Guyanese journalists on Friday at the Marriott Hotel

This was according to Caricom Chairman, President David Granger, speaking at a press conference on Friday following the conclusion of Caricom’s 28th Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government.

President Granger said after deliberating for two days, the regional bloc was concerned that decisions which have been agreed upon in the past were not being complied with.
He added that it was agreed that actions would be taken for non-compliance.
“We continue to be concerned that some of our previous decisions have not been fully complied with and agreed that the necessary action will be taken to effect compliance.”
The chair said too that the meeting also addressed the need for the relevant ministerial councils and committees to meet to follow up on decisions which would have been made and agreed upon.

Revealing some of the non-compliant areas, Caricom Secretary General Irwin LaRocque explained that there are two types of decisions at the level of Caricom.
He said the first is the institutional level, which has bearing on various forms of treaties where some of the organs of the community are not meeting on a timely basis or are taking too long to address issues; some of which include the arrest warrant treaty and the sharing of assets treaty.

“When heads met here last July it was agreed that the appropriate officials would meet to finalise that treaty and the sharing of assets treaty,” LaRoque said.
However, with this not being achieved, the secretary general said that the heads once again determined at the Inter-Sessional Meeting that they will do what is necessary to ensure officials meet to address these particular issues.
He added that those matters (the treaties) are still under some legal consultation and consultation must be done at the national and regional levels to speed up implementation of some of the decisions made.

The other category of decisions LaRoque said, came out in a review of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), where the bloc was able to identify instances where member states did not fully comply with particular decisions made.
“The review has revealed some of those and we have until March before an indication is made as to what steps will be taken to bring them [countries] up to speed…” he said, adding that he remains hopeful that the Community will be able prepare both treaties before the Caricom Summit in July of this year.

Meanwhile, President David Granger related that during discussions at the Inter-Sessional Meeting, the matter of free movement of skilled persons was ventilated.
He said CARICOM “agreed on priority areas to be addressed, including the completion of the protocol on procedures relating to facilitation of travel”.
Additionally, the regional body commended the significant progress in implementation of the CSME, but agreed that the challenges of payments for goods and services traded within the region have to be addressed.

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