The Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) Secretary-General, Dr. Edwin Carrington, says developed countries should foot a portion of the capital cost to train Caribbean professionals.

He says Caribbean countries have spent billions of dollars to train their people, but often lose the benefit of their skills to developed countries through migration. Dr. Carrington was speaking at the Caribbean Media Awards, held at the University of the West Indies, Mona, on Saturday night, under the theme 'Migration and Development'.

He said the Caribbean has one of the highest net migration rates in the world, with more than five million people relocating in the past 50 years. He said many of them were tertiary graduates and cited that nearly all Caribbean countries were among the world's top 20 countries from which tertiary graduates emigrated. This is a significant transfer of resources, he said, as some countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados spent more on tertiary education than primary or secondary education.

"In the last five years alone, 80 per cent of Guyana's tertiary-educated citizens have migrated. The majority of Caribbean countries have lost more than 50 per cent of their labour force in the tertiary segment and more than 30 per cent in the secondary education segment," Dr. Carrington said.

He noted that the Caribbean loses 400 nurses through migration each year to the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. The region spends between US$15 million and US$20 million to train them.

Setback in health sector

"The gravity of this situation is underscored by the costs associated with that kind of migration. That is the cost of training of these migrants in their home countries, as well as the resulting setback to the health services of the region," he said.

But, Dr. Carrington noted that efforts were being made to counter the negative effects of migration. He noted that CARICOM has made efforts to address the labour deficiencies through improved training to support intra-regional and extra-regional demands.

"We will only stem the tide when we expand our economies, increase professional and job opportunities and accentuate social mobility fast enough to satisfy the growing expectations of our people," he said quoting an excerpt from former Prime Minister of Jamaica, P.J. Patterson.