St Kitts PM says more improvements in CSME over coming six months

BASSETERRE, ST Kitts, CMC – Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr. Denzil Douglas says over the next six months the regional integration grouping will build a more practical approach to the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).



Addressing the St. Kitts Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s 28th Annual Private Sector Banquet over the weekend, Prime Minister Douglas said that CARICOM has recorded remarkable achievements especially within the framework of functional cooperation, impacting the health and education sectors.



But Dr. Douglas, who is also the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, said that over the next six months, CARICOM would build a more practical approach to the implementation of the CSME, with greater focus, at this time, on implementing the single market component, which is critical in making the region more competitive in the global market place.



“While, at the same time, the pace of forward movement has been quite unsatisfactory for most persons across the region, this (the achievements) have not gone unnoticed by the Heads of Government as has been recently demonstrated with the selection of Ambassador Irwin LaRoque as the new Secretary-General,” said Dr. Douglas.



The CSME allows for the free movement of goods, services, skills and labour across the region, but in recent times regional leaders have come under severe criticism over the non implementation of certain aspects of the CSME, particularly as it relates to the free movement of labour.



But Dr. Douglas told the private sector officials that over the next six months and beyond “we shall see the continued review of the CARICOM Secretariat looking at its structural and operational aspects, a process that is expected to be completed by October of this year.



“Thereafter, other institutions of CARICOM will also be reviewed with the aim of bringing greater efficiency and effectiveness and improving sustainability of resources as has been achieved with the amalgamation of five public health institutions into one Agency – the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA),” said Dr. Douglas.



He said as a regional body, “we would also be pushing for greater global attention to the increasing prevalence of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases.



“It is a call for greater action and appropriate global strategies to arrest the increase and this of course must be part of the agenda of the business community here in St. Kitts and Nevis,” he told the audience.



During his address, Dr. Douglas said that the sub-regional Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is on “track” to ratify the free movement of OECS nationals by August 1.



“All of the necessary adjustments, checks and balances are expected to be made by that time to begin facilitating the principles of the new Treaty. We must note that the first meeting of the OECS Commissioners took place in St. Kitts during the period of the CARICOM meeting.



“They have been at work setting the agenda and timetable for certain elements, and we look forward to their submissions. I would remind you of the relevance and importance of the OECS Economic Union, as

member countries chart the way forward toward a more productive future for the peoples of the sub-region,” he added.



The OECS groups the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.