Narace: TT 80% CSME ready

TRINIDAD and Tobago is 80 percent prepared to implement the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), and it is expected that this percentage of readiness will increase in the coming months. Ambassador Jerry Narace, head of the TT CSME Unit made the disclosure yesterday at a seminar hosted by the Bankers Association at the DFL building, Cipriani Boulevard, Port-of-Spain. Narace also assured that by November when the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is inaugurated, “we will be looking extremely good in terms of our obligation to the process.” The CSME is expected to be fully implemented on January 1, 2006. Narace said in his view it was “fortuitous that negotiations on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) have stalled, so we can get our house in order and make CSME a reality and negotiate from a stronger platform (for the FTAA).”

He pointed out that this country together with Jamaica, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Belize were aiming to be ready by the end of the year, with the other countries ready by 2005. However Haiti is yet to ratify the agreement establishing the CSME, Montserrat is awaiting a formality from the UK and the Bahamas is yet to sign. Narace said TT had outdone itself in terms of its preparations, adding that the reason Trinidad and Tobago was not yet ready pertained to dealing with restrictive measures, including the harmonisation of laws, including passing legislation to pave the way for the CCJ. But Narace said that in our favour was the full implementation of the Common External Tariff (CET) and the existence of a Bureau of Standards. He said the Fair Trading Authority would soon be established.

As to why the other Caricom countries were not on the same level as TT, Narace said in the less developed islands there existed “capacity problems,” which he explained as dealing with legislation, resources and expertise. He said Caricom was looking at how it could provide support to those countries. Lamenting that the CSME will enable the free movement of goods, services, people and capital, Narace said the most important aspect was enabling the integration of financial services, especially to banks. He outlined as the benefits to those institutions, lower cost of funding and financial treaties, improved portfolios, increased liquidity and stability and “the greatest benefit to capital markets.” He told participants, “you will be able to benefit from several rights, including the ease of entry to establish a commercial presence, ease of administration for registering and incorporating companies, access to land and buildings, and freedom of entry of managerial, technical and supervisory staff, as well as spouses.”

Acknowledging there were complexities and challenges, Narace assured that they were outweighed by the benefits and opportunities. He reminded that economic integration was a lengthy, complicated process but what the region had achieved in ten years took the European Union all of 50 years. He said if Caricom was not equipped to deal with globalisation, it faced the risk of being marginalised, because the region’s survival depended on its preparedness to face open international competition. Narace further said that while the Unit had mounted a massive public education programme, organisations and associations were free to do their own studies on the CSME, but requested that the findings be sent to the Unit. Addressing concerns that the CSME advertisements were staged, Narace assured “they are real people making real comments.”