Miller ... as soon as current stocks are exhausted, CARICOM passports will be issued.
Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
Jamaica is expected to begin issuing Caribbean Community (CARICOM) passports by year-end, thereby joining other member states which have already introduced the new passport regime.
Robert Miller, head of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told The Gleaner yesterday that as soon as the current stock of Jamaican passports are exhausted, the CARICOM passports would be issued.
Old passports valid
"Anytime the passports are exhausted, it (the CARICOM passport) comes into effect. So, if it is exhausted in April, it will come into effect but it will be no later than December 31, 2007," he said.
Mr. Miller was, however, quick to point out that persons with Jamaican passports, which are still valid, will be allowed to continue to use them until they expire.
Regionalism
The CARICOM passport is a national document, which is being issued in accordance with an agreed format for intra-regional and extra-regional travel.
The cover bears the logo of CARICOM and the words 'Caribbean Community', in addition to the coat of arms and the name of the issuing member state.
Heads of government agreed to the issuance of this passport by member countries as a defining symbol of regionalism.
The introduction of the CARICOM passport is also part of the measures to promote hassle-free travel for CARICOM nationals.
The passport creates awareness that CARICOM nationals are nationals of the community, as well as a specific country.
CARICOM Passports
Suriname was the first country to issue the CARICOM passport on January 7, 2005, followed by St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Kitts later that year.
The expectation is that all members will introduce the passport when the stock of their old passports is depleted.
Members of CARICOM are: Antigua; The Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Dominica; Grenada; Guyana; Haiti; Jamaica; Montserrat; St. Lucia; St. Kitts;
St. Vincent; Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
