(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown) The State of implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) will come under focus next week when the Caribbean Community’s Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) meets in Georgetown. Officials began meeting yesterday in preparation for the COTED

From Monday, the Ministers will scrutinise a Report on the Appraisal of the CSME which was itself the subject of a Meeting of Senior Officials of CARICOM Member States last month.

Ahead of the two-day Twenty-Ninth COTED, a series of meetings related to the functioning of the CSME were convened at the CARICOM Secretariat.

The back-to-back meetings in January at the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, focused on Contingent Rights, the state of implementation of the CSME, the treatment of monopolies, and free circulation and safeguards.

Delegates at the meeting of senior officials to consider and review the draft report on the state of implementation of the CSME heard that while the CARICOM Single Market (CSM) was working, there was need for a greater level of coherence among member states. Challenges remained in areas such as the establishment of the legal framework within which the CSM would effectively operate; and in giving effect to the right of establishment and the free movement of skills, among other areas

Among other recommendations, the Report underscored the need to build the additional capacity that is required to develop the CSME; for maximum facilitation of the free movement of skills and capital and of the movement of services across borders.

COTED is also to receive a report on a meeting on Contingent Rights held January 18-19. Contingent Rights are defined as those rights which are granted to a CARICOM National and his or her spouse and immediate dependent family members, if the principal beneficiary has exercised the right of establishment, provision of services, movement of capital or free movement of skills.

Member states have acknowledged that buy-in and ownership of the process at the national level were critical to moving forward on Contingent Rights. While there were spirited discussions and unresolved issues in a number of areas, participants were able to get a better appreciation for some of the concerns that influenced the position of member states on matters related to the Protocol on Contingent Rights. Negotiations for the Protocol which would guide the implementation of those rights began about four years ago.

Some of the proposed measures to be included in the Protocol led to discussions on moral considerations such as the preservation of the family; capacity concerns, particularly in the health and education sectors; as well as the identification and verification of the status of some categories of persons who may seek to move within the CSME as dependents. Among the latter are `common law spouses’ a category which is not recognised in the laws of some member states.