EVEN AS Heads of Government of our Caribbean Community appear to be moving away from a self-imposed “pause mode” of some three years ago in favour now of a proactive approach on social and economic developments, they would, hopefully, avoid wasting scarce human resources and time in pursuit of new initiatives.

My unsolicited suggestion is being humbly offered in view of decisions taken at last Tuesday’s meeting of the CARICOM Bureau in Port-of-Spain and relates in particular to the recommendation for establishment of a special Commission focused on reviving economies of member states of  the Community.
When one objectively considers the plethora of officially mandated studies/reports pertaining  to a variety of social, economic and fiscal management issues, it is not easy to generate enthusiasm for the proposed ‘CARICOM Commission on the Economy (CCE).
Yet, with an assumed new mood for “action”, the Community’s leaders could well surprise us with specific initiatives to evolve by the time of their scheduled Inter-Sessional Meeting in February in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The CARICOM Bureau, which functions as a “management committee” between regular and special conferences of Heads of Government, took at their Port-of-Spain meeting last week some new and significant decisions for consideration by action by ALL member states of the regional economic integration movement.
One of those decisions to emerge from the meeting, chaired by host Prime Minister, Kamla  Persad-Bissessar, called for the  creation of a CARICOM Economy Commission (CEC). This proposal was consistent with deliberations and recommendations at last July’s annual Heads of Government Conference in Trinidad and Tobago.
That summit of Heads of Government, in addressing critical issues facing the “future of CARICOM economies”, had specifically noted unflattering observations by foreign  financial and economic  commentators, which they regard as “tarnishing the credibility” of member states of the Community to “raise financial resources required to drive growth and development…”
It is appreciated that as the primary organ of CARICOM, a Heads of Government Conference has the authority to make recommendations, and initiate relevant actions in the interest of the region’s integration movement, now in its 40th year of existence.

Caribbean Growth Forum
Nevertheless, it is to be wondered whether the decision arising from the Bureau’s meeting considered also that later this year, or soon thereafter, there is expected to  be ready for consideration an anxiously awaited report from a high-level Caribbean Growth Forum (CGF).

Launched in June 2012 as a unique “partnership” of regional and international institutions and agencies, the CGF is comprised  of representatives of the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank; Caribbean Development Bank; the University of the West Indies; and traditional partner agencies like the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DIFID) and Canada’s International Development Agency (CIDA).
Central to the CGF’s mandate, as previously reported by this columnist, is the fostering of ideas and initiatives to generate economic growth, and promote employment with a special emphasis on jobless youth. These are factors that have been influencing deepening concerns among governments of our Community.
For his part, the CDB’s President, Dr Warren Smith,  was to go public with some serious warnings to governments on the pursuit of injurious fiscal management policies, even as he and his team of advisors continued  working along with their counterparts of the CGF.
Coming out of Tuesday’s meeting of the CARICOM Bureau, at which participants included, in addition to Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, the Prime Ministers of Barbados (Freundel Stuart) and St. Vincent and the Grendines (Ralph Gonsalves) with Haiti’s President doing so via teleconferencing arrangement), it was disclosed that the proposed ‘Commission on the Economy’ should address “priority areas  for  fiscal sustainability, resource mobilization, as well as critical economic structure service particularly energy and Information Communication Technology (ICT)…”
Well, I guess we must await positive developments between now and February next year — when the CARICOM Heads of Government hold their Inter-Sessional Meeting in St. Vincent and the Grenadines — to better assess productive arrangements  for the proposed ‘Commission’ on the region’s economy.
By then, the CGF’s report should be almost in readiness, if not completed for official distribution to governments and participating institutions.
The  composition of the Commission would be of much interest, as, indeed, its formulated terms of reference and how they coincide with the ideas and specific recommendations expected in the coming report of the Caribbean Growth Forum that has been at work since June last year.

Transportation and marijuana
Last week’s Bureau meeting, in reflecting on some of the results of last July’s Heads of Government Conference in Port-of-Spain also agreed on the creation of a Commission on Regional Air Transportation, with representatives from Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL), LIAT, Suriname Airways, and Bahamasair. 

The Commission’s mandate is to also include “a look” at the hitherto elusive project of an intra-regional fast-ferry service — an idea often floated by governments in Port-of-Spain, St. Lucia and Kingstown, but which continues to attract ACTION — after attracting media headlines!
The recent call by Vincentian Prime Minister Gonsalves for the region’s governments and relevant institutions to give consideration to the   “decriminalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes” was endorsed for “further discussion”.
Relatedly, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar pledged to make available to member governments, via the CARICOM Secretariat, a relevant report done by the Trinidad and Tobago National Drug Council.