THE CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) is an important element of the Region’s integration process, coming on stream after the establishment of the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) in 1972 that harnesses the cultural resources. The main objective of the CSME is to establish a regional economy to produce goods and services for the marketplace, internal and external.

It is important to note that the CSME (established in 1990) has its genesis in the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) of 1965-1972, which in itself was established to facilitate trade among countries in the Caribbean. The Founding Leaders (Forbes Burnham of Guyana, Vere Bird Snr of Antigua, and Errol Barrow of Barbados) ought to be commended for such a vision, even more so that within this period the countries were still colonies.

The CSME, while built on two major pillars, trade and economy, has seen constant progress being made by putting regimes and protocols in place to realise a single marketplace, in the absence of preparing the ground work for a single economy.

CARICOM (Caribbean Community) comprises of small countries, with the majority depending on tourism as the major economic activity; while a few, such as Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Suriname and Belize, depend largely on their natural resources as their economic base. A single economy requires the sharing and partnership in the development of each sector. For this sharing and partnership to be successful it needs a comprehensive regional plan to harness the potentials that the region offers in every sector of development.

Early in the integration process ideas such as using the energy resources of Trinidad and Tobago and the bauxite from Jamaica and Guyana to be smelted and converted into aluminum has not evolved beyond an idea, depriving the region of the benefit of producing value-added to bauxite, which is one of the region’s primary natural resources.

Guyana and Suriname produce gold. Both countries, in addition to its local miners exploiting the resources, also have multinational companies operating in the sector. Beyond paying small royalties to the state and creating some employment and economic activities, much is left to be desired to convert the mineral to a level where the countries and region can benefit from value-added products. In fact, there is an absence of a jewellery industry, with the majority of gold being exported raw.

As the world marketplace impacts negatively on the price of sugar, one of the region’s oldest industries has suffered at the hands of developed countries and multinationals dictating what ought to happen. In the presence of foreign directive, the region, as a single unit, has not responded with a coherent plan that would address the industry in a holistic manner. Instead, regional leaders, even in the presence of CSME, which speaks to a single economy, has opted to address sugar as individual country rather than a collective. Arguably, there would be more to be derived through a single plan, involving collective action, which could have led to exploration among others, of a major confectionery industry indigenous to Caribbean foods, for regional and local consumption.

Each Head of Government has responsibility for a specific area in CARICOM. Guyana has responsibility for agriculture. For some time now the country has being touted as having the potential of being the breadbasket of the region. CARICOM was established with the best of intent to aid the development of the region’s peoples through the exploitation of the region’s resources. The Founding Fathers of CARICOM-Burnham, Barrow, Eric Williams (Trinidad and Tobago), and Michael Manley (Jamaica)- have provided the region with a vision, conceptualised a plan, laid the foundation through institutions, and floated ideas as to how the region’s resources can be exploited in various forms.

With the departure of the founders, given results seen and perceptions- real or contrived- of the region’s peoples, it would not be an unfair assumption that some who have followed are yet to grapple with the importance of operating as a collective in the world, given our small-state status, and develop an economic programme indigenous to the Caribbean to ensure realisation of the CSME.