James Moss-Solomon - Andrew Smith/Photography Editor
One year after six states signed the agreement establishing the Caricom Single Market (CSM), regional politicians, private sector officials and technocrats have given cautious responses to the regional initiative.
The formal analyses are yet to be done, but the reactions largely based on individual experiences suggested that the Caribbean was already more welcoming and accommodative of its own nationals.
Regional businesses, for example, "have found that exploring opportunities in the Caribbean have been much easier," said James Moss-Solomon, president of the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC).
"So the question of setting up businesses, going to other territories where they may have felt not welcome before, has gone away."
The CSM, the interim phase to implementation of the single market and economy by 2008, was originally signed in Kingston on January 28, 2006 by Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suri-name and Trinidad and Tobago.
Since then, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadine and St. Kitts-Nevis have signed the accord, with Haiti, the Bahamas and Montserrat, the only member states not party to the agreement.
Ease on tariffs
Under the accord, the governments have agreed to lift tariffs among participating members, and all citizens can open businesses, provide services and move capital throughout the single market without restrictions.
"Many companies now have almost been forced to take cognisance of, and include Caricom expansion, Caricom cross border business in their own expansion plans and that has been very, very positive," said Moss-Solomon, a senior executive of the GraceKennedy conglomerate.
Barbados' central bank governor, Dr. Marion Williams, also said there was some indication of improvements in capital flows to her country.
Williams told the Caribbean Media Corporation that while no economic assessment has been done to determine what percentage of net capital inflows came from the region in 2006, she believes the impact has been good for Barbados.
"I will say there is probably a positive impact in terms of inflow," she said.
"I would not like to say this is categorically so because we really have not done the analysis, but the size of the capital inflows and just in layman's observations of investments in Barbados, particularly out of Trinidad, suggest to me that some of those capital inflows came from the region."
Regional governments had also indicated their willingness to replace national travel documents with a regional passport by 2007.
So far, more than half of the member states have complied with the new travel requirement: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, and most recently Grenada.
Passports
Countries have up 2008 to phase in the new Caricom passports, which are expected to identify carriers by both their country of origin and as Caricom nationals.
But there are still some wrinkles to seamless movement, for example, Barbados must still set up a free movement committee, said Steven MacAndrew, regional specialist for the free movement of skills and labour.
Other member states were also lagging but, like Barbados, he added, free movement is still being facilitated, even though from time some problems arise.
The main hiccup, appears to be in Port of Spain.
"The main issue with free movement at this point in time is that Trinidad and Tobago must still implement the decision of the Conference of Governments taken in July 2005 in St. Lucia that Caricom nationals who are entering with skills certificate can work immediately," said MacAndrew.
There were still too many complaints from Caricom nationals going to Port of Spain and being "told that they cannot work immediately," he said.
The six OECS countries that signed on to the regional initiative in June after being given firm commitments that they would not be placed at a disadvantage are also actively engaged in creating an economic union of their own.
But Dominica's Foreign Affairs Minister, Charles Savarin, said the two processes were in no way contradictory nor was it a duplication, adding that while OECS states remain committed to the CSM, they still needed to safeguard their own special interests.
"What is good for Trinidad is not necessarily good for Antigua, for Dominica; Jamaica may have a different opinion as to where Jamaica's interest lie," Savarin said.
"So that decisions, which are in, say the best interest in what is normally referred to as the MDCs (middle-income developed countries) which do not pay specific attention to the interest and the peculiarities of the small island states of the Eastern Caribbean, may in fact not work to our better interest.
"So I think it is important that we can pool our interests together and give us the ability to be able to represent those interest more forcefully within the CARICOM organisation," he added.
Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Sir Dwight Venner says the OECS economic integration should serve as a model for Caricom and other regions.
"There are things that we are doing there that are very interesting not only to ourselves but the international community," said Sir Dwight.
Sir Dwight said that over the last six months the World Bank has been conducting various studies within the OECS, including a case study on the 40-year-old court system, "because you see in these things, some very viable arrangements can be transported to other small states."
