– Ambassador Irwin LaRocque tells youth conference
AMBASSADOR Irwin LaRocque, Assistant Secretary-General, Trade and Economic Integration, Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM) on Thursday underscored that the youth within CARICOM had a critical role to play in the success of the regional integration movement.

Speaking in Antigua and Barbuda at a conference to mark the end of a two-year project designed to familiarise students with opportunities which reside in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), Ambassador LaRocque said the Region’s flagship programme could not be successful without the “full participation” of youth, particularly given that research had shown that young people under 30 represented 63% of the Region’s population.

The forum titled “Conference of Students Engaging the CSME Through Field Promotion,” closed the curtain on a project which saw 283 students travelling to various CARICOM countries to obtain ‘first hand’ experience of opportunities which the CSME presents.

Ambassador La Rocque noted that the project was necessary in light of the fact the CSME was “widely unknown, misunderstood and under appreciated among youth, according to research done by the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development (CCYD).

In this context, he said that the CARICOM Secretariat was “committed to undertaking a series of initiatives aimed at empowering and positioning young people to take advantage of and contribute to regional integration and the CSME.”

Contrary to perceptions that the CMSE was put on hold, the Ambassador said, “CSME is alive and functioning although its implementation has not been at a pace some would have hoped to see.”

He told the participants that the work done over the past two years was pertinent in consolidating gains achieved so far.

“Your views will be key in determining how we proceed with the further development of the Single Market and Economy,” he said.

Against the backdrop of findings by the CCYD contained in the Report of, ‘Eye on the Future: Invest in YOUTH NOW for the Community Tomorrow’ that most youth preferred to leave the Region in search for career opportunities and a better life, Ambassador LaRocque said that the exercise was vital in identifying what career opportunities existed within the CSME, giving expression to the Declaration of Paramaribo on the Future of Youth in the Caribbean Community.

A significant outcome of the project will be a publication detailing the experiences of the students during the field study of the CSME.

Based on the discussions at the Conference in Antigua and Barbuda, the publication will include recommendations, which Ambassador LaRocque said, “will add another crucial piece of information and recommendations to what is already obtained in the Report of the CARICOM Commission on Youth.”

The European Union, CSME Focal Points and the CARICOM Secretariat were lauded by the Ambassador for the critical roles they played in the success of the CSME project designed for the edification of the Region’s youth.