– at upcoming CARICOM Heads of Government meeting
IMPLEMENTATION of measures to enhance the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy (CSME) is expected to be high on the agenda at the 40th Regular Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government in Saint Lucia.
The meeting will be held on July 3-5 at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian Hotel.
According to a preview from CARICOM, Heads of Government are expected to build on the St. Ann’s Declaration, which was approved at the 18th Special Meeting on the CSME, in Trinidad and Tobago last December.
The declaration, which confirmed the CSME as still the most viable platform to support the region’s growth and development agenda, put forward several measures for determined action.
Among the measures are a more formalised, structured mechanism for engagement with the region’s private sector and labour; expansion of the categories of skilled nationals entitled to move freely and work within the community, to include agricultural workers, beauty service practitioners, barbers and security guards; ensuring Community-wide recognition of each member State-issued CARICOM Skills Certificate; reinforcing regional security mechanisms; and permitting the region’s citizens and companies to participate in public procurement processes across the community.
According to CARICOM, December’s Special Meeting had appointed a broad-based 10-Member team, under Economist, Professor Avinash Persaud, to a restructured CARICOM Commission on the economy to advise member states on a growth agenda for the community.
Heads of Government are expected to receive an update on its work.
Several other major matters related to security, regional and foreign relations are also expected to be part of the deliberations.
The meeting, at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian Hotel, will be held under the chairmanship of Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister, Allen Chastanet.
An opening ceremony will be held on Wednesday, July 3, and will be addressed by Prime Minister Chastanet; the outgoing Chairman, Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris of St. Kitts and Nevis; and CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque.
In 2018, challenges in CSME and the Bruce Golding Commission report on Jamaica’s relations within CARICOM and the building of post-hurricane disaster resilience were among critical issues raised.
These were discussed at the 39th Regular Meeting of the Conference of the Heads of Government of CAIRCOM, in Jamaica.
Then chairman of CARICOM and Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, had said the 39th Conference of the Heads of Government made good on its promise to the people of the region.
“We promised our people free movement and this conference has recommitted to the free movement of skills and has agreed that all states, by December 31, 2018, would have put in place the necessary legislative framework to facilitate all 10 approved categories of skills. We promised that we would ensure family unification through the granting of important rights to spouses and the dependents [sic] of citizens that move across the region to work, provide their services and establish companies,” the chairman of CARICOM said with a sense of accomplishment.
