Whither CARICOM?

R. Anne Shirley, Gleaner Business Writer

A couple of weeks ago, I witnessed an incident in the arrival hall at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados which highlights in a graphic way the lack of buy-in by many CARICOM nationals to the concepts of free movement of persons and hassle-free travel throughout the region.

In the particular instance, a Barbadian immigration officer loudly questioned the head of a CARICOM agency headquartered in Barbados as to her status in the country upon presentation of her official CARICOM travel document. The Dominican national has been living and working in Barbados for six years, and travels frequently throughout the region.

The Barbados immigration officer threw the CARICOM document away, stating that she was not interested in it and loudly repeated her query as to the official's status in Barbados. The CARICOM official then produced her Dominican diplomatic passport, and the immigration officer quipped, "You should have presented this in the first place."

Alternative travel document

This was taking place a few weeks before the proposed July 2010 start-up of the use of the CARICOM Travel Card (CARIPASS) as an alternative travel document for regional travel by CARICOM nationals.

Under the system, CARIPASS holders would be expeditiously processed through specially designed electronic self-service gates at airports and eventually seaports, and could proceed directly to baggage arrival and customs halls.

Earlier this week, there were renewed calls from Jamaican manufacturers for the Trinidad Government to provide petroleum to the other CARICOM countries on the same terms and conditions as it currently provides to Trinidad entities.

This call was made on the eve of the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting, which begins today in Montego Bay, St James.

It is easy to make this call to the political heads, but there is virtually nothing that will come from the heads of government.

Instead, the proper channel for the Jamaican manufacturers would be to take their case to the Caribbean Court of Justice to have the matter addressed. Similarly, we should be seeking remedies to other trade disputes, such as cement, patties and agricultural produce in the courts.

All of this begs the question, "Whither CARICOM?"

Are we really serious as a region about trying to make the CARICOM Single Market and Economy a reality? Or do we seriously believe that each CARICOM country can go it alone in a global environment that is moving rapidly to larger regional groupings and trading blocs?

The reality is that even the CARICOM Community is a relatively small grouping of island states and a few neighbouring mainland states with limited resources and a small population base.

If so little progress has been made over the past four decades in the movement towards regional integration, what hope is there for spectacular progress to the made in the near future?

The irony is that while the average CARICOM national is naturally suspicious of the citizens of other countries, the fact is that despite the odds our two regional institutions have stood the test of time. West Indies cricket and the University of the West Indies have shown that we are really one people in the region.

Our cricketers might currently be languishing in the backwaters and are being pummelled by other countries, but we'll all 'Rally round the West Indies' when they return to winning ways.

And the UWI is making strides in expanding its regional coverage through the Open Campus and the revamping of its current offerings and research agenda on the main campuses.