Six Caricom leaders launch CSME

Signing of the document took place at the Mona Visitors Lodge at the University of the West Indies (UWI). Prime Minister Patrick Manning, as the current chairman of Caricom, piloted the signing.

Like the leaders of the other five countries — Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, and Suriname, Manning, as head of the Trinidad and Tobago delegation, also signed the document.

The document is headed "Declaration by Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community Marking the Coming into being of the Caricom Single Market."

At the signing ceremony, Manning reminded his Caricom colleagues, "we have some distance to go to complete that single economic space which is so vital to the viability of our nation in the fiercely competitive global arena, and we must make an extra effort towards this end.

"We must not fail to meet the deadline of 2008 for the establishment of the Caribbean Single Economy; this is of utmost importance," Manning emphasised. His Jamaican counterpart, Prime Minister Percival J Patterson, stressed the need for vigilance and forward thinking in the upcoming years. "While we take a moment to pause and reflect on our achievements over the years," declared Patterson, "we must not rest or become complacent. Formidable challenges still exist as we move boldly forward in the pursuit of closer regional collaboration within a global economy that is admittedly hostile to the interests of small developing states," he added.

Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur, said the move was sorely needed. He saw it as pivotal to regional development, and warned all present about the importance of the signing. "It is time now to give Caribbean unity a chance," he declared.

Six other Caricom countries committed to membership in the Common Market by March 31 are: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Yesterday, leaders of these six other countries signed another document labelled "Draft Declaration of Intent by Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community on the Participation of their Countries in the Caricom Single Market."

Two of the countries in the 15-member bloc — Bahamas and Haiti — have signified no intention to participate in the CSME process; while Montserrat, a British dependency, is still awaiting the necessary instrument of entrustment from the United Kingdom government.