Part One
News Analysis
By Lesroy W. Williams
Observer Reporter
lesroywilliams@thestkittsnevisobserver.com
The new buzz within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) which was established on July 4, 1973, is the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). Some would say that the CSME is in service of Caricom in bringing to some fruition the objectives of the Caribbean Community as identified in Article 6 of the Revised Treaty.
These objectives are: improved standards of living and work; the full employment of labour and other factors of production; accelerated, coordinated and sustained economic development and convergence; expansion of trade and economic relations with third states; enhanced levels of international competitiveness; organization for increased production and productivity; achievement of a greater measure of economic leverage and effectiveness of Member States in dealing with third States, groups of States and entities of any description; enhanced co-ordination of Member States’ foreign and economic policies; and enhanced functional co-operation.
The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, establishes the legal framework for implementation of the CSME and has been enacted into domestic law by all countries participating in the CSME. Currently the following countries are participating in the CARICOM single Market and Economy: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. The Bahamas and Montserrat are not participating in the CSME.
In 2006, the Single Market came into effect with the following key elements: the free movement of skills/labour; the free movement of goods; the provision of services; the free movement of capital; and the right of establishment. Work on the Single Economy is ongoing and it is hoped that this will be realized by 2015.
Is the CSME mere talk? Is it a backward of forward step? Some people who live in CARICOM nations are very skeptical of the CSME and ask: Will it work? Will it benefit me?.
Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, believes that the CSME is a good initiative in advancing regional integration although it is moving at a slow place. He said that it is a work in progress that will take some time for its full implementation. In order to survive as a Caribbean Community, nations need to come together as one unit in pooling our resources in terms of labour, skills, services and capital which eventually would bring about a more stable economic and socio-political Caribbean Community, he said.
Dr. Harris believes that it is a work in progress because it takes time to build relationships and change takes time.
The CSME initiative is not the first attempt at regional integration.
From Jan 3, 1958 to May 31, 1962, 10 provinces came together with the idea of a Federation of the West Indies. The 10 provinces, all British Dependencies were Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica (with Cayman Islands and Turk and Caicos Islands as dependencies), Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Motto of the short-lived Caribbean Federation was “To dwell together in unity.” The expressed intention of the Federation was to create a political unit that would become independent from Britain as a single state; however, before that could happen the Federation collapsed and was doomed due to internal political squabbling among the provinces. The Federation never achieved full sovereignty, either as a Commonwealth realm or as a republic within the Commonwealth.
When Federal elections were held on March 25, 1958, Norman Manley of Jamaica and Dr. Eric Williams, Premier of Trinidad and Tobago, did not contest the Federal elections preferring to remain in control of their respective island power bases. This suggested that the leaders of the two most important provinces did not see the Federation as viable. Alexander Bustamante also declined to contest the Federal election. The absence of the leading Jamaican politicians from any role at the federal level was to undermine the Federation unity.
When Jamaica pulled out of the Federation because of its dissatisfaction with the Federation’s continuing colonial status, it is alleged that Dr. Eric Williams said “one from ten leaves nought” and “what God has separated let no man join”. The Federation crumbled.
Is the CSME doomed to fail just like the West Indian Federation because the Governments of Caricom still want to remain in control of their respective island power bases? Are we still so territorial in nature? Is it perhaps why the regional integration of the CSME is moving at a snail’s pace?
We wait and see and in the meantime try to break some of the bottlenecks that are slowing its full implementation.
There are many motives for integration but economics has always been one of them. Countries are in need of resources and labour to develop and people need goods and services to live.
…To be continued next week.
