THE 47th Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) currently being held in Guyana offers an excellent opportunity for advancing towards the goal of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

For too long, progress towards the CSME has been repeatedly paused or slowed;deadlines for implementation of key aspects of the initiative have been missed, as some Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states appear to give rhetorical support to the undertaking, while doing little to bring it to fruition.

The CSME, when implemented, will offer enormous benefits to regional economies and relations, and more effort must be put into realising full implementation.
The CSME was first conceived in July 1990 at the 10th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Grenada. The document which launched the initiative in January 2006, the Grand Anse Declaration, committed the original six signatory states to work towards wider and deeper economic and other areas of cooperation. The document originally set a goal of 2008 for full implementation of the proposal.

The declaration envisioned and set out three objectives:
1. Deepening economic integration by advancing beyond a common market towards a single market and economy.

2. Widening membership in the programme, thereby expanding the economic influence of CARICOM; and

3. Progressive insertion of CARICOM into the global trading and economic system by strengthening economic links with non-traditional trading partners.
Unfortunately, even though additional CARICOM states have since signed onto the initiative, progress has been slow, and none of those original objectives have been fully met, even after 10 years beyond the original deadline.

Last September, President David Granger lead a delegation including Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge to the 9th meeting of the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on the CSME, which was held in Barbados. Having expanded the original objectives, the matters discussed included simplified procedures for regional travel, macro-economic cooperation and support, and means of addressing non-compliance with aspects of agreements. Before leaving for that meeting, Minister Greenidge had expressed the hope that, “member states may be able to move forward and will come to a conclusion on a number of critical issues.”

At the COTED meeting now being held in Guyana, Chairperson Barbados’s Foreign Trade Minister Ms. Sandra Husbands noted that implementation of the CSME is a challenging undertaking. However, Minister Husbands pointed out that despite that fact, opportunities offered by the CSME must be seized, especially if CARICOM is to become economically resilient. She stated that, “Economic resilience must be one of our priorities and win-win must be our goal. We need to organise our production activities and integration. Alluding to relations between CSME states, Minister Husbands said, “We are not 15 members haggling and negotiating to create benefits for our countries; rather, we are sister territories striving to manage our resources and opportunities, to generate accelerated value which we share for our mutual benefit.”

Considering the slow pace of progress towards implementation, it is hoped that Minister Husbands’ pronouncements, being expressive of great hope and optimism, can be realised in the near future.

The CSME which is now envisioned – after many delays – to be activated in a multi-phased manner, has expanded its goals from mere economic cooperation; objectives now include free movement of skilled persons, harmonisation of policies, and consideration of a single regional currency. Additionally, technical cooperation in such areas as agriculture, tourism, energy, and diversified trade are also being contemplated.

While one may wonder if the expanded objectives are somewhat unrealistically optimistic, given that the narrow, original goals are still to be met, there is reason for hope, though. It has been observed that governments are now giving CSME renewed and more frequent attention. However, in order for benefits of the CSME to be realised, there must be more than frequent meetings and discussions; there must be concrete action, such as the passage of enabling legislation.

The obvious benefits of a single regional economy are obvious and the advantages are self-evident. It is therefore hoped that the pace of progress may be improved and objectives are met with increased efficiency to the benefit of all CARICOM citizens.