|
It's no secret that Barbados, as a founder member, figured prominently in the success of the Caribbean integration movement as we know it today.
After the 1962 collapse of the first real effort at a political federation of British colonies in the West Indies, only 4 years into its life, Barbados and 3 of its regional neighbours met in Antigua and set the ball rolling to form a trade association among themselves.
It was 1965 when the then Premier of Barbados, Errol Barrow, a young energetic British-trained lawyer, got together with his counterparts from Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago and (then British) Guyana and agreed to establish what was then called the Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA). Their main objective then was to liberalise, diversify and increase trade among member states using a common policy on taxing imports from each other.
Three years later, with most of the original members now independent states, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, St. Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines signed on. Jamaica and Montserrat became members in 1968 and Belize (then called British Honduras) came on board in 1971.
With 12 regional countries now in CARIFTA, their annual Summit in 1972 set the stage for widening the concept and establishing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), inclusive of a Caribbean Common Market. By the next year CARICOM formally came into being, with the signing in Trinidad and Tobago of the enabling Treaty of Chaguaramas.
CARICOM started in August 1973 with only the independent states - Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. The other 8 CARIFTA territories formally became members shortly afterwards and in 1983 the Bahamas became the 13th country of the Community, but did not join the Common Market.
Since then the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands (1991) became CARICOM Associated States - they are still British colonies - along with Anguilla (by then a separate island state) in 1999, the Caymans Islands in 2002 and Bermuda in 2003.
The Caribbean Community got its 14th full member in 1995 when Suriname, the first non-English speaking state, joined and French-speaking Haiti became the 15th member in 2002.
Convinced that even tighter integration of the Caribbean was vital to the region's future survival, the leaders revised the Chaguaramas Treaty to include, among other things, provisions for the free movement of capital and people from member states, in the context of a new Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).
At a 1989 Summit in Grenada, they started the process, agreeing on the "need to work expeditiously together to deepen the integration process and strengthen the Caribbean Community in all of its dimensions to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by the changes in the global economy."
For nearly 8 years after that, then Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur, was CARICOM's point person on the CSME, taking the regional lead in guiding policy formulation for re-positioning Caribbean economies so that they can compete in an increasingly globalized world. Further, Arthur prepared Barbados to meet the CSME challenges, confident that the island would do well in a liberalised environment.
After delays linked to the most politically sensitive elements of the idea, CARICOM leaders finally established the Caribbean Single Market (CSM) in 2006.
The CSM created one large market among the participating states and sought to give CSM peoples more and better opportunities to move around the region, sell their goods and services and to attract investment.
CSM documents set out some of the main objectives of this latest regional initiative as:
» Full use of labour in member states (full employment);
» Removal of hindrances to the movement of goods, the establishment of enterprises, capital flows and the provision of services;
» Full exploitation of the other factors of production (natural resources and capital);
» Competitive production leading to greater variety and quantity of products and services to trade with other countries outside of the region; and
» Improved standards of living and work associated with sustained economic development.
Because of the unequal development of member states, the hottest topic in effecting the CSME has been the implementation of the provision for free movement of labour. The latest revision of the Chaguaramas Treaty commits member states "to the goal of the free movement of their nationals within the Community". This essentially means that workers should have the right to seek employment in any CSME state and is meant to remove the need for work permits.
To date however, member governments have agreed to use a phased approach to implementing this CSME provision. Most states have passed the enabling legislation to, at least, give free movement within the CSME to graduates of the University of the West Indies (UWI), media persons, artists, musicians and sports people.
As of 2009, the new 1 year-old government in Barbados, led by Prime Minister, David Thompson, has taken a cautious approach to open-endedly accepting the nationals of other countries. Thompson cites the need to first ensure that the social infrastructure in Barbados can handle the influx.
|
