SUCH HAD been the long and tortured process through which the leaders of the Caribbean Community have struggled to deliver the promised Single Market, that its arrival should take none by surprise.
Yet there are governments and agencies that complain that they are not ready. This cannot be reason for not moving ahead. It is only in an idealistic and unattainably perfect world that everyone would be at the same state of readiness for the Single Market. The economic union cannot be delivered as a total and completely prepared package. There will be elements that have to be resolved and reshaped. The problems will be subject to debate that, even where most trenchant, hopefully will be constructive enough to lead to a solution.
We hope that this significant move by Caribbean Community governments will not be subject to the short-sighted Jamaican inclination to treat each small problem as being beyond resolution, and to seek an 'alternative' rather than a solution. The creation and working of the Single Market must also not be confused by those who are bent on identifying each problem and rough passage, each disagreement and misinterpretation, as support for their own preconceived positions against the pact.
We consider most dangerous to the future of the people of the region those who argue blindly that an economic union such as the Single Market is not necessary. Those who pursue this blinkered and myopic thinking are disconnected from the reality of current global economics.
Economies like those of Jamaica are of little significance on their own. It does not matter whether there is support or disregard for the forces of economic globalisation. It remains a painful fact that in current developments, Jamaica and other minute economies such as those creating the Single Market will be incapable of survival on their own.
That unity in strength can be beneficial to national economies has long been accepted by the managers of economies much stronger than those of our region. We have only to look at the trade agreement forged years ago by Mexico, the United States and Canada. The economic union created by the Single Market will still be a relatively small unit. However, the advantage is that it gives our Caribbean people a more efficient production unit, and a larger market, and hence a better prospect for survival and improvement.
Inevitably, there will be those who will try to obfuscate and divert by failing to move out of the shadow of the ghost of the failed West Indies Federation. To disregard the importance and necessity of the economic union, and to portray it as being more than what it is, is to abuse the future of the people of our small, poor region, and damage their prospects for improvement. In this economic union, Jamaicans can benefit from closer association with our Caribbean neighbours, and gain not only from their stronger economies, but also from the higher standard of living and quality of life that most of our neighbours enjoy.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
