PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – CARICOM Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett, Friday, said while much has been achieved in the past 50 year, the stories of regional success must be continuously shared across the 15-member CARICOM grouping “to serve as a constant reminder of what we can achieve with unity of purpose, as we rise to the challenge of the new era”.
Dr. Carla BarnettAddressing a symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the regional integration movement, which is being observed this year, Barnett, the first woman to head the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat, noted that 2023 marks significant anniversaries for both CARICOM and the University of the West Indies (UWI).
“As we celebrate the 50th and 75th anniversaries, respectively, phrases such as “defining moment”, “critical juncture” and “turning point” come to mind<” Barnett told the symposium held under the theme “‘CARICOM at the Crossroads: Rising to the Challenge of a New Era” and organized by the CARICOM Secretariat in collaboration with the UWI’s Institute for International Relations.
She said from the lost ideal of a political federation, to the re-ignition of a free trade area, to the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas which created the Common Market 50 years ago, the Revised Treaty of 2001 pushed the boundary of regional integration even further with the aim of creating a CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) allowing for the free movement of goods, skills, labor and services across the region.
She said the objective of the CSME is to progressively and ultimately create a single, seamless economic space within the Community that provides a larger scale economic, trading and business environment.
“It is our platform for economic growth and development within our region, as well our foundation for international competitiveness and effective insertion in the global economy,” she said, noting that CARICOM already has developed a common agricultural policy, a double taxation agreement and are in the process of creating an industrial policy among the member states.
“We have harmonized standards, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, and a competition policy. We have in place a CARICOM Multilateral Air Services agreement.
“A security architecture has been put in place, including a CARICOM Arrest Warrant Treaty, an agreement on the Recovery and Sharing of Assets derived from criminal activity and a Counter Terrorism Strategy.
“We have leveraged our votes in the international arena along with sustained advocacy to become a respected voice in global affairs, most recently in climate change and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).”
But Barnett said CARICOM, unlike for example the European Union, is a community of sovereign states which have agreed to act in concert in areas agreed within the Revised Treaty of Chaguramas.
But she also acknowledged that unlike the EU, where regulations and laws made at the level of the union have direct national effect, in CARICOM, decisions taken by regional leaders “although they may create rights for persons within the CARICOM sphere, also create obligations for member states to implement…through national laws and policies”.
The Belize-born, Barnett said this has “complicated and lengthened our decision-making and implementation process, but notwithstanding, we have made significant accomplishments.
“We need to remind ourselves from time to time that, as a region, we were successful in the establishment of the Caribbean Development Bank, the Caribbean Court of Justice, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, the Caribbean Examination Council, the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS, and the Caribbean Public Health Agency, among others…”
The CARICOM Secretary General said that the theme for the 50th anniversary celebration is “50 Years Strong: A Solid Foundation to Build On,” which she described as being “most apt.
“Let us be clear. There is more that could have been done to take us further along the road. The lag in the implementation of an efficient transportation system has adversely affected intra-regional trade and the ease of travel for people throughout the Community.
“The non-tariff barriers that impeded the flow of trade have created unnecessary friction. Actions by officials at points of entry threaten to become a deterrent to CARICOM citizens wishing to visit or seek employment in another member state, as is their right under the Revised Treaty,” she said, telling the symposium “the joy of the Single Domestic Space when our region hosted Cricket World Cup in 2007 is now a distant memory”.
But she noted that none of those challenges is insurmountable, as intractable as they may seem.
“And the goal is to surmount them as we move on to the next 50 years and beyond,” she said, adding that the regional and global environment has changed considerably since the signing of the original CARICOM treaty in 1973.
“However, the fundamental objectives and principles of regional integration remain more valid than ever. It is these objectives and principles that are underpinning the efforts of our Community as we rise to the challenges of this new era.”
She said in keeping with the new thrust to re-organize the CARICOM, the Inter-Governmental Task Force (IGTF) on Treaty Revision will be re-established, in due course, to review and update the Revised Treaty, commensurate with the requirements of the new order and to incorporate any other decisions that have been taken since 2001, that have the effect of changing the Treaty.
“The decisions taken so far, and the strengthening of governance arrangements, which is a work in progress, indicate that the Heads of Government are seized of the moment and are organizing to overcome the challenges we confront.,” Barnett said.
She said in this new dispensation, CARICOM will be seeking to establish regional expert groups from time to time, to provide structured technical advice to the Community in the development of policy, as well as in implementation efforts.
“The involvement of our universities, research bodies, experts resident in the region and in the diaspora broadens the idea base and invites a range of perspectives that could only benefit the final outcome,” she said.
