FINALLY, the Caribbean Community Secretariat has announced the dates for a long expected and overdue special consultation on the status of its flagship project, the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).

The announcement on Monday said that it will take the form of a two-day “Convocation on the CSME” in Barbados from October 9-10 and will involve leading stakeholders representatives.

To be held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre at Sherbourne, the event is the result of decisions taken at last July’s 30th CARICOM Summit in Guyana, and various presentations from wide-cross section of stakeholders representatives have been invited.

It is widely felt that the region’s governments, private sector and labour movement would be aware of the cynicism over perceived collective failure to drive the implementation process for realisation of the CSME in 2015–the target date.

Consequently, efforts are expected to be made, not just by the member governments, but also private sector and labour movement officials, to avoid the ‘Barbados Convocation’ from being another so-called “talk shop”.

To enable meaningful discussions that contribute to realistic proposals for implementation strategies, the Secretariat was yesterday scheduled to dispatch an information package, inclusive of an audit report on progress and hurdles yet to be scaled in the journey towards CSME inauguration.

At their 29th CARICOM Summit in Antigua last year, it was unanimously agreed that the Prime Minister of Barbados (David Thompson), who currently shoulders lead responsibility for CSME-readiness arrangements, “will host a wide-ranging regional consultation on the CSME in the second half of 2008”.

The stated intention was to “review the status of preparation of the Strategic Plan for Regional Development”, member states’ readiness for implementation of the single economy, as well as the role of stakeholders in the implementation of the various elements of the CSME…”

The consultation did not take place.

What developed, instead, between the Antigua Summit of 2008 and the 30th summit held in Guyana in July this year, was a rather disappointing open and bitter row involving governments in four CARICOM states–Barbados, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda.

At the core of the controversy is what remains the sensitive issue of treatment of claimed “illegal” or “undocumented” nationals of the Community.

The private sector was to largely hold its silence during that acrimonious period as the regional labour movement waffled in generalities without offering anything new that’s consistent with the spirit and letter of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas on CSME provisions.

For its part, the CSME Unit, based in Barbados, was engaged in separating, so to speak, “the sheep from the goats”—the skilled categories of Community nationals entitled to free intra-regional movement to live and work, from difficulties being experienced by undocumented immigrants.

The Unit was also focused on providing the basis for an audit report on progress in implementation of measures for the CSME.

At their 30th Summit in Guyana last July, Caricom leaders received the elusive “audit report”.

Since, as often reminded, “we are all together in this CSME boat”, then if we are to either swim together or drown separately, the region’s private sector and labour movement are expected to come to next month’s “CSME Convocation” with presentations that offer specific ideas/recommendations”.

Not just their complaints, valid as they may be, against, lack of structured consultations and the prevailing inertia among governments, but also on related issues like the delivery capacity of the Community Secretariat.

Likewise, instead of engaging in customary reassuring rhetoric, or apologias for failures, it is felt that Caricom leaders and the top officials of the Secretariat should bring to the convocation new ideas for sustained collective approaches to overcome hurdles that have been preventing CSME implementation measures long before the eruption of the current global economic crisis.

For instance, informing the convocation on initiatives taken, or being pursued to come to grips with the need for an empowered administrative structure at the Caricom Secretariat.

Also, what are some of the precise measures initiated for sequential implementation of the far-reaching report authored by Dr Norman Girvan on “Towards a Single Economy and a Single Development Vision”.

Incidentally, fresh ideas, more than predictable criticisms, would also be expected to be offered by officials of parliamentary opposition parties who are to be among invited “stakeholders representatives” at the convocation.