Caribbean Integration Reader 2010 2011

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Reader Caribbean Integration

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2010-2011

Definition: What constitutes the Caribbean?

What constitutes the Caribbean? The answer is often a matter of perspective and ofcontext. Anglophones in the region usually speak and think of the Caribbean as meaningthe English-speaking islands, or the member states of the Caribbean Community(Caricom). Sometimes the phrase the wider Caribbean is employed to refer to what is,in effect, the others. In the Hispanic literature El Caribe refers either to the Spanish-speaking islands only, or to Las Antillasthe entire islands chain. More recently adistinction is being made between El Caribe insularthe islandsand El Gran Caribethe Greater Caribbean, or entire basin. Among scholars, the Caribbean is a socio-historical category, commonly referring to a cultural zone characterised by the legacy of

slavery and the plantation system. It embraces the islands and parts of the adjoiningmainlandand may be extended to include the Caribbean Diaspora overseas. There canbe many Caribbeans.

This is reflected at the level of regional organisations. Caricom is primarily anAnglophone grouping, recently expanded to include Suriname and in principle Haiti.Cariforum, which groups the Caribbean signatories to the Lome Convention, includesCaricom, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The Association of Caribbean States (ACS)embraces the entire basin. The majority of the dependent territories in the Caribbean donot belong to Caricom, Cariforum or the ACS; but most are members of the CaribbeanDevelopment and Co-operation Committee (CDCC) of ECLAC. The CDCC excludes themajority of the basin states; its membership corresponds roughly to that of the insularCaribbean.

In short the definition of the Caribbean might be based on language and identity,geography, history and culture, geopolitics, geoeconomics, or organisation. The termitself has an interesting history. It originated with the desire of the Spanish invaders todemonise those groups of the earlier inhabitants that chose to resist them. Los Caribeswere allegedly the man-eaters (after the Spanish carne, for meat), and therefore deservingof no mercy. The derivative name only began to be applied to the entire region towardsthe end of the 19th century, in the context of US expansion of its southern frontier.Later expressions of this were the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission (later simplythe Caribbean Commission) of 1942 and Reagans Caribbean Basin Initiative of the1980s. Both the name itself and its later application to a geographical zone wereinventions of imperial powers.

What is significant is the subsequent re-invention of the concept of Caribbean by nativescholars as expressions of intellectual and political resistance. This was especially notablein the case of the New World Group, which emerged in the Anglophone Caribbean in the1960s. Drawing on the insights of the American anthropologist Charles Wagley andbuilding on the earlier work of the radical nationalists C.L.R. James and Eric Williams,

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the group articulated a vision of the Caribbean as an integral part of PlantationAmerica. Similarities of history and culture were held to outweigh differences inlanguage or colonial power. In the words of Trinidadian writer, Lloyd Best:

"Certainly (the Caribbean) includes the AntillesGreater and Lesserand theGuianas But many times the Caribbean also includes the littoral that surrounds our

sea..what we are trying to encompass within our scheme is the cultural, social,

political and economic foundation of the sugar plantation variant of the colonialmind"

For Best, this definition was the foundational step in establishing the link betweenintellectual thought and Caribbean freedom. Striking parallels exist in the positions takenby the Haitian anthropologist Jean Casimir and the Puerto Rican historian Gaztambide-Geigel. The latter regards the Caribbean as constituting Afro-America Central (CentralAfro-America); and calls this as the ethno-historic conception of the region.

Yet the counter-hegemonic concept of Caribbean is not limited to the ethno-historicperspective. The basin perspective of the hegemonic power has been inverted by someas a sphere of resistance. This vision, which Gaztambide-Geigel characterises asTercermundista ( Thirdworldist) dates back at least to the 1940s and has beenarticulated by elites in Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, the so-called G3 countries. Incontemporary times it finds expression in the ACS and in the Civil Society Forum of theGreater Caribbean, an NGO grouping. However these organisations emphasise co-operation in furtherance of common interests as their objective; any counter-hegemonicaspirations, if they are present, are muted rather than explicit.

Hence the notion of Caribbean has been, and is being, continuously re-defined and re-interpreted in response to external influences and to internal currents. A plausible positionis that there is no one correct definition: content depends on context, but it should beclearly specified whenever used for descriptive or analytical purposes. Conceptually, wefind it useful to distinguish just the two variants of the insular Caribbean (a socio-historical rather than geographic category since includes the islands, the three Guianasand Belize); and the Greater Caribbean (the entire basin). Organisationally, it is necessaryto distinguish the Caribbean of Caricom, of Cariforum, and of the ACS. Culturally, thegrowing importance of the Diaspora of the insular Caribbean in North America andEurope has to be recognised. The Caribbean is not only multilingual, it has also becometransnational.

IdentityA parallel ambiguity arises regarding the existence of a common Caribbean identity.Certainly the inhabitants of the region have been ambivalent about accepting a definitionthat was originally imposed from without and is still today very much an intellectual orpolitical creation. Central Americans have always preferred to identify themselves asbelonging to the Isthmus and to call their Eastern Coast the Atlantic. In the Hispanicislands, the nationalist current identified itself with Latin America on cultural, linguisticand historical grounds. Self-definition as Caribbean was problematic insofar as it

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connoted a denial of their Hispanic identity historically associated with US expansionism.It also meant being grouped with islands that were non-Hispanic, still under colonial ruleand overwhelmingly black.

Fidel Castro must have been acutely aware of the divisiveness and implicitly ethnic

orientation of this current when he declared in 1976 that Cuba is a Latin African ratherthan Latin American nation, and more recently when he asserted that the Caribbeanpeople of African origin are a part of Our America .

Up to the middle of the 20th century the majority of the non-Hispanic islands remainedsimply The West Indies or The AntillesBritish, French, and Dutchand theirinhabitants were known as West Indians or Antilleans. Haiti, which had been isolatedsince its Independence a century earlier, was African, Francophone, and uniquely Haitian.It was not until the 1940s that the Caribbean began to acquire some currency in theEuropean West Indian colonies. This was originally as a result of the activities of the

(Anglo-American) Caribbean Commission and subsequently that of the work of regionalhistorians and social scientists.

For Anglophones, the terminological transition was signaled when the ill-fated WestIndies Federation of the 1950s was replaced by the Caribbean Free Trade Association(CARIFTA) of the 1960s and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the CaribbeanDevelopment Bank of the 1970s. The first two were, however, founded as exclusivelyAnglophone clubs. Anglophones still display a certain discomfort with the expansivedefinition of the region: they guard their West Indian identity jealously and appear tofear domination by the more populous Hispanic counties. This was reflected in the name,and the Report, of the Independent West Indian Commission, set up by the CaricomHeads of Government of 1992. The Commission recommended that Caricomsintegration efforts should be deepened rather than widened; the objective of wideningregional co-operation would be pursued through the formation of the ACS, a looser formof association.It might be said that Hispanics tend to see themselves as Caribbean and Latin American,Anglophones as Caribbean and West Indian. West Indian might also incorporateelements of pan-Africanism or pan-Hinduism that are either weak or non-existent in theHispanic societies. Identity may overlap in name but may be in contradiction in content.The process of forming a common Caribbean psycho-cultural identity that transcendsbarriers of language and ethnicity is at best slow and uneven.

For their part the Dutch islands still call themselves Antilles although they have joinedseveral Caribbean regional organisations . The French territories have the status ofOverseas Departments of the French Republic and their inhabitants are French citizens.Here, self-definition as Caribbean is still relatively rare and when used, might connotean assertion of distinct cultural identity and perhaps a demand for greater autonomy.

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In what follows we examine the principal socio-economic characateristics of the GreaterCaribbean and the insular Caribbean.

Socio-economic characteristics

Within the countries of the Greater Caribbean there are wide disparities in size,population, and per capita income. The grouping is dominated by the G3 countries, whichtogether account for between two-thirds and three-quarters of the total population, GDPand land area. Mexico alone with 90 million people has a greater population than all theother countries combined and 46 percent of the aggregate GDP. Colombias population isabout equal to that of entire insular Caribbean with a GDP that exceeds that of the 16independent states. Venezuela has over three times the population and four times theGDP of the whole of Caricom. Per capita income in the G3 is also higher than that ofCentral America and the non-Caricom insular states and slightly below that of Caricom.Given the wide disparities in size between the G3 and the rest, it is understandable thatthey should be regarded as Latin American powers in the Caribbean with the potential

to be significant economic and political players in the region.The balance of the regional population is divided fairly evenly between the Isthmus statesand the insular Caribbean. As a group, the Isthmus states are the poorest in the region,with an average per capita income is only about half that of the G3 and of Caricom.There are wide income disparities among countries, Costa Rica and Panama havingincome levels 4-5 times the level in Nicaragua and Honduras. The last two are among thepoorest countries in the hemisphere.

The insular Caribbean has a higher per capita income than that of the Greater Caribbeanas a whole. Within this group, there are wide income disparities between the non-Caricomand the Caricom states, among Caricom states, and between the independent states andthe dependent territories. These income differentials are associated with size, locationand political status. The next section discusses these and other socio-economiccharacteristics of the insular Caribbean in greater detail.

The insular CaribbeanThe insular Caribbean is an extremely fragmented and heterogeneous sub-region. Withjust 37 million people it contains 28 distinct political entities and these vary widely withrespect to size, political status, income and language. 22 have populations of under 1million and these include 11 independent states. 14 of the 16 independent states attainedsovereignty only in the past 40 years, some as recently as the 1980s. Their politicalsystems vary from multi-party parliamentary democracies in most of the Anglophonecountries to Executive Presidential systems in several and the one-party populardemocracy of Cuba.

The dependent territories belong to four metropolitan powers. Constitutionalarrangements range from virtually full internal autonomy, as in Puerto Rico and the Netherlands Antilles; to the sharing of responsibility between locally elected

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administrations and the metropolitan authorities, as in the British and Frenchdependencies. There are at least 6 official languages and several local Creoles are alsospoken. Here there is a paradox: although the majority of Caribbean entities are Englishspeaking, the majority of the population is Spanish speaking; with French being second inimportance.

In analysing socio-economic characteristics, we have found it useful to distinguish foursubgroups that combine the attributes of political status, size, and location, while ignoringdistinctions of language, political system and regional association. The subgroups are:

(i) Larger Island States: four states in the Greater Antilles containing three-quarters of the population, with an average population of nearly 7 million. These areCuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica;

(ii) Smaller island states: nine states, mostly in the eastern and southernCaribbean with populations of or under 1.5 million each and an average population sizeof 260,000 . These are Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, the Bahamas and the six membersof the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States;

(iii) Mainland states: Suriname, Guyana, and Belize; and

(iv) Dependent territories, which number 12 in all.

Larger island states.

The group of four island states with 75 percent of the sub-regions population hasrelatively low per capita incomes and modest levels of human development. It includesHaiti, one of the poorest countries in the world with very low human development. Cuba,the Dominican Republic and Jamaica are all in the $1,000-2,000 range of per capitaincome. Cuba has done best in terms of level of human development compared to level ofper capita income, followed by Jamaica. The incidence of poverty is very high in Haiti,where two-thirds of the population live below the poverty line; and significant in Jamaicaand the Dominican Republic where one-third and one-fifth of the population respectivelyare estimated to be in absolute poverty. In Cuba one-sixth of the urban population isestimated to be at risk of being unable access their basic needs requirements.

All four countries have experienced low or negative real per capita growth over much ormost of the last two decades. This is due to falling commodity prices and debt andadjustment crises (the Dominican Republic and Jamaica) exacerbated by the effects ofpolitical turmoil (Haiti) and the collapse of the Soviet Union (Cuba). As a result, theyhave lost substantial ground in their human development ranking in the world during the1990s.

Smaller island states

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This group of nine mini-states, with less than 7 percent of the sub-regions population,enjoys levels of per capita income and of human development considerably higher than inthe larger island and mainland states. Their average per capita income is 4.7 times that ofthe larger island states, and they are all classified as having high human development inthe UNDP tables. Economic growth in the last two decades or in the 1990s has been

propelled by the expansion of tourism, off-shore banking services, manufacturing, bananaexports, and energy-based industries. Investment has also been strong due to political andsocial stability and successful macro-economic management in the majority of cases. Insome of the smallest islands the fruits of economic growth have been fairly widelydistributed due to the small populations, the dispersal of tourism and banana cultivation,and strong public sending on social services.

Yet problems of poverty and vulnerability cast a shadow over the future of thesecountries. In six of the nine countries the incidence of poverty is 15 percent or over, andthe rate reaches over 20 percent in Trinidad and Tobago and two of the Windward islandsand over 30 percent in Dominica. The Windward islands banana producing economies

are also threatened with severe dislocation due to a WTO ruling against the preferentialtreatment they receive under the EU banana import regime. Vulnerability to naturaldisasters is evident in the damage sustained in the Windward and Leeward islands duringthe annual hurricane season, and in episodes such as the volcanic eruptions in Montserrat,which have dislocated an entire island community. The islands strategic location on theprincipal drug trafficking routes from South America to North America and Europe hasalso exposed them to the activities of large international criminal organisations whoseresources vastly exceed those of the local state systems.

Mainland statesThe three mainland states contain 55 percent of the land area but only 4 percent of thepopulation of the sub-region. In spite of their low population densities they are relativelypoor. Per capita incomes are similar to those of the larger islands, though Belize isconsiderably richer on average than the other two. Both Guyana and Suriname have anexport structure that is dominated by primary commodities--bauxite in the case ofSuriname and bauxite and sugar in the case of Guyanaand both have been negativelyaffected by the weakening of commodity markets since the 1980s. Internal politicalconflict has also contributed to economic decline. Suriname experienced an abruptwithdrawal of Dutch aid in the 1980s following a military coup; while Guyanas economysuffered from brain drain and capital flight during the Burnham dictatorship of the 1970sand the 1980s.

Dependent territoriesThe 12 dependent territories contain 14 percent of the sub-regions population and haverelatively high per capita incomes. Puerto Rico predominates in this subgroup in terms ofpopulation and GDP. This territory has 10 percent of the population and 42 percent of theGDP of the insular Caribbean as a whole.

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The factors behind the high incomes of the dependent territories are similar to thoseapplying to the smaller island states, with the additional advantages of dependent status.Resource transfers to support social services are substantial in the US and Frenchdependencies. The British and Dutch dependencies have become major off-shore bankingcentres, taking advantage of their political attractiveness associated with colonial

protection. Most of the dependent territories have large tourist industries and smallpopulationsa combination that inevitably results in high per capita incomes.

The Caribbean DiasporaOne consequence of these trends has been the continued growth of intra-regionalmigration as well as of external migration flows. This is not a new phenomenon, as intra-regional migration dates back to the end of the 19th century. Contemporary flows areoriented to the expanding tourism and service economies of the smaller island anddependent territories from the labour surplus, crisis-affected economies such as Haiti,Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Dominica and more recently Cuba. Externalmigration has also continued on a substantial scale. Although this phenomenon is not as

well researched as it ought to be, especially intra-Caribbean migration, the followingindicators are illustrative of its importance.

The net loss of population from the region in the 1950-1989 period has been estimated at5.5 million which is about 15 percent of the present population within the region. Haiti,Cuba, Jamaica and Puerto Rico each had close to 1 million of their native-born populationliving abroad at the close of the 1980s. In relation to the resident population, the overseaspopulation at the end of the 1980s stood at 40 percent for both Jamaica and Guyana, 36percent for Suriname, 23 percent for Puerto Rico, 21 percent for Trinidad and Tobago, 15percent for Haiti, and 10 percent for Cuba. By the early 1990s the overseas populationwas sending home in remittances an amount equal to 71 percent of the value of exports inthe case of the Dominican Republic, 32 percent in the case of Haiti, 29 percent in Jamaicaand 17 percent for Barbados. In Jamaica, remittances have been the fastest growingsource of foreign exchange inflows in the 1990s. Hence, the Caribbean Diaspora isundoubtedly an important source of household income in many of these societies as wellas a major aspect of people-based integration within the social life of the region itself.

To summarise, the insular Caribbean has a small number of densely populated stateswhose living conditions are not too dissimilar from those in the rest of the GreaterCaribbean, and a large number of mini-states and dependent territories, some of whichhave been able to secure relatively high incomes by specialising in tourism and financialservices. It is likely that income differentials within the sub-region have widened in thepast two decades, intra-regionally if not intra-nationally. Pressures arising out of shifts inthe world economy and other developments generally referred to as globalisation areevident in the difficulties experienced in the most populous countries during the 1990s,and the uncertainties now faced by some of the smaller states. Poverty is a major problemin the larger countries and in several of the smaller societies, notwithstanding their higherper capita incomes. Even the relatively prosperous societiesincluding the dependentterritoriesare highly vulnerable to events not of their own making and to forces outsideof their control. Caribbean people continue to move in search of survival and a better

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life, as they always have. But for the sub-region, vulnerability, differentiation andfragmentation continue to be major issues.

Regionalism in the insular and the Greater CaribbeanRegional integration, or at least co-operation, is frequently advanced as a strategy of

confronting the challenges of globalisation and the risks of marginalisation facing theinsular and the Greater Caribbean. In the 1990s there has been renewed interest inregionalism as shown by the Report of the Independent West Indian Commission, theexpansion of Caricom, the formation of Cariforum and the creation of the Association ofCaribbean States. In the wider hemisphere there have been efforts to consolidateMercosur, the Andean Community, and the Central American Integration System inresponse to the formation of Nafta and the drive towards the EU Single Market.

Regional integration cannot substitute for what is lacking at the national level. Essentialfoundations of effective regionalism are internal political and social cohesiveness andpolicy coherence. Several societies in the insular Caribbean are facing severe problems of

governance and political legitimacy including Haiti, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, andpossibly Trinidad and Tobago. These are rooted in ethnic and class conflict and in someinstances in the fragility and erosion of national institutions. These problems will make itdifficult to embark on regional projects that require negotiated compromises, concessionson national sovereignty and consistent implementation. In the Greater Caribbean themovement towards effective regionalism will also be conditioned by success in resolvingproblems of internal legitimacy in several of the G3 and Central American states.

Caricom is often referred to as one of the more successful integration groups in thedeveloping world. But the Community has disappointed many who saw in it thepossibility of organising a cohesive economic grouping with harmonised and coordinatedeconomic policies. Initiatives that failed to be completed include the harmonisation offiscal incentives, the regional industrial policy, joint strategies of agriculturaldevelopment, and the organisation of joint industrial enterprises. By the early 1990sCaricom had opted for the newly fashionable strategy of open regionalism. TheCommon External Tariff was reduced steeply and the process of forging a CaricomSingle Market and Economy was launched. Progress towards the CSME has been steady,but agonisingly slow; and the target date for completion has been put back several times.Caricom co-operation has been more successful in the field of external negotiationsfocussing on relations with the EU under Lome and with the US under the FTAA.Caricoms governments continue to be driven by the immediate requirements ofpreserving and enhancing existing external trade privileges; the organisation is not seenprimarily as a co-operation mechanism to assist the transformation of internal social andeconomic relations.

A significant development in 1997 was the bid by the new Fernandez Administration inthe Dominican Republic to become a bridge between the Caribbean and Central Americain the forging of a strategic alliance between the two sub-regions. The proposal is for aFree Trade Agreement between the two sub-regions and between both and the DominicanRepublic, with co-operation in business enterprise development, in tourism andinvestment promotion, and in external trade negotiations. Initial response has been

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lukewarm, as both sub-regions see little scope for the expansion of intra-regional tradeand are preoccupied with the more immediate issues of Nafta parity and the EU post-Lome negotiations. Yet as the small countries of the insular Caribbean and the Isthmusdiscover the limits of their leverage in the post Cold War era, interest in a strategicalliance of this kind is likely to grow.

The emergence of the ACS as an inter-governmental organisation of the GreaterCaribbean, may also be significant. The ACS aims to foster co-operation in trade,transport and tourism. The principal ACS members already belong to integration groups:Mexico with NAFTA, Colombia and Venezuela with the Andean Group, and CentralAmerica and the Anglophone states to SICA and Caricom respectively. An ACS FreeTrade Area is therefore unlikely, as is joint external negotiations on trade agreements. Butthe very existence of the ACS, whose headquarters are in Port-of-Spain, is stimulatinginterest in educational exchange, language training, trade facilitation, and sustainabletourism.

Another notable development is the growing role of non-governmental organisations ineffecting regionalism at the level of civil society. In the insular Caribbean there is theCaribbean Policy Development Centre and in Central America there are several includingthe Civil Initiative for Central American Integration. In recent years there have been twomeetings of the Permanent Forum of Greater Caribbean Civil Society, which is promotedby CRIES. The emergence of these new actors is part of a wider hemispheric and globalphenomenon in the 1980s and 1990s. It corresponds to the growth of the womens andenvironmental movements and of community organisations, as well as to the erosion ofthe state and the decline of conventional left parties due to shrinking labour unionmembership and the fall of the USSR. By being less bureaucratic and more flexible,visionary and voluntaristic than the existing official structures, these movements may bebetter placed to promote integration processes at the popular level.

Towards the futureAt the close of the 19th century the Caribbean had not yet been invented. The nation-statewas very much a privilege of the imperial powers. The British, French and Dutch WestIndies were sleepy backwaters of European empires. Haiti and the Dominican Republicwere relatively isolated. Marti had died fighting for a free Cuba and Nuestra America, butCuba and Puerto Rico were in the process of exchanging one imperial overlord foranother. Few could have guessed at the momentous changes the 20th century wouldbring.

Yet these changes were already in the making. The European powers were enmeshed in adeadly imperialist rivalry that would lead not to two World Wars that were to change thepolitical map of the world and set the stage of decolonisation. In Jamaica, Marcus Garveyhad already started to question the racially stratified order of the colonial society, the firststep towards his vision of a united Africa as home for black people liberated from mentalslavery racial discrimination. All over the British West Indies, the second generation offree blacks had secured education and were now manning the teaching profession, whichgave birth to the Trinidadian CLR James and others who were to launch the labour andindependence movements of the 1930s. In Cuba, Jose Martis dream refused to die; 60

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years later it would inspire Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution. The socialfoundations for a Sandino, a Manley I and II, a Williams, a Jagan and a Bishop hadalready been established.

The foundations of the changes of the early 21st century have already been laid, even if

the changes themselves cannot be predicted. Capitalist globalisation and the ideology ofprogress are being questioned, as was imperialism 100 years ago. But so are the legaciesof ideas and institutions of the political movements of the 20th century, such as nationalsovereignty and its expressions of nation-state, national development, and regional (inter-state) co-operation. Sovereignty and identity are being detached from a defined physicalspace; while culture and common interest are emerging as important frames of reference.To be sovereign in the age of global community will be less a matter of formal stateauthority and more a matter of developing the capacity for autonomous and proactivestrategies at all levels, beginning with the community. To be regional will implydiscovering shared identity and interests and acting in function of those.

If the Caribbean was an invention of the 20th century, it seems certain to be re-interpretedand perhaps transcended in the 21st. The Caribbean of tomorrow will not be anexclusively Anglophone or Hispanic conception; and it will not be tied exclusively togeographic space or definition. If it survives at all, it will be a community of sharedeconomic, social and political interests and strategies that encompasses differentlanguages and cultures and the Caribbean Diaspora. It might well include inter-state co-operation, but if so this will be only one of a number of spheres of interaction.

It is by no means clear that all or most of these societies will survive as viable entities;units which provide for the basic social, economic and community needs of a collectionof defined citizens and with some capacity for autonomous action. Some may becomejust places to reside in for a while, to visit, to holiday in, and to retire to. In any case, onlythose legacies of the 20th century that are found to be in the interests of the people of theregion will be retained and reshaped. The rest will be discarded and forgotten, and ourpeople will move on.

REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN THE CARIBBEAN- AN INTRODUCTION

REGIONALISM

Many of the Caribbean countries that in the past, were intent on asserting their right to

separate statehood, are today discovering a need to join forces, to get together, to fashionnew forms of regional cooperation and regional integration; in response to the newchallenges of contemporary globalization.

In the world economy we see the formation of large regional economic blocs-theEuropean Union, NAFTA, the Asia-Pacific zone; the Southern Common MarketMERCOSUR, the proposed (and now dead) FTAA.

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The small countries of the Caribbean are fearful of being left out and behind.

In the world economy we see the drive to liberalize trade in goods and services andmovements of capital; to eliminate one-way trade preferences, to treat all countries on thebasis of the level playing field.

The small countries of the Caribbean feel vulnerable. Preferential treatment for theirtraditional exports like bananas, sugar, and rum have been dismantled, exposing thesehigh-cost exports to international competition; reciprocal access to domestic markets will be required, exposing high-cost domestic production to competition from cheaperimports; tariffs will come down, reducing government revenues.

So in the past two decades we have seen several significant initiatives taken in thedirection of greater regional cooperation and integration.

We have seen the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) broaden its membership from the

English speaking Caribbean to include Dutch speaking Suriname and French/Creolespeaking Haiti.

We have seen CARICOM take a decision to establish a Single Market and Economy. As part of this a Regional Negotiating Machinery has been set up to conduct tradenegotiations with the EU, the WTO and other bilateral treaties.

In addition a Caribbean Court of Justice began operations at the end of 2003 to hearappeals from island courts and to have original jurisdiction in interpretations of the Treatyestablishing the CSME.

We have seen the EU incorporate Haiti and the Dominican Republic into the CaribbeanGroup of the ACP for the provisions of the Lome and Cotonou Agreements, and theresulting formation of the Caribbean Forum CARIFORUM comprising CARICOM andthe Dominican Republic.

We have seen the reform and consolidation of the Central American Common Market inthe form of the Central American Economic Integration Systems SIECA, and the CentralAmerican Integration System SICA

We have seen the formation of the Group of 3: Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, with aFree Trade Agreement.

We have seen efforts to transform the Andean Group into the Andean Community.

We have seen free trade agreements made between CARICOM on the one hand andVenezuela, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Cuba on the other hand. There havebeen several other FTAs made among countries and groups of countries in the region.

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We have seen the regionalisation of civil society and private sector organisations: theCaribbean Association of Industry and Commerce, the Caribbean Tourism Organization,the Caribbean Development Bank.

And we have seen the formation of the Association of Caribbean States, a cooperation

organisation embracing all the countries of the Caribbean Basin, the Greater Caribbean.

REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN THE CARIBBEAN

Integration in the Caribbean is mainly through the Caribbean Community, or CARICOMas is more widely known. CARICOM was established in 1973 by the Treaty ofChaguaramas which was revised in 2001. CARICOM's three main objectives are:economic co-operation, co-ordination of foreign policy and functional cooperationincluding health, education, youth, sports, science and tax administration. The Caribbean

Single Market and Economy (CSME) contributes to deepening the integration process,based on both market and economic integration.

To support this process, the Treaty of Chaguaramas was revised and now contains ninechapters covering the major areas of the CSME. When completed, the CSME will providefor the free movement of goods, services, capital, labour and right of establishment withinthe Community and harmonised laws and regulations affecting commerce. The SingleMarket component of the CSME was introduced by Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica,Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago in January 2006. The OECS countries (Antigua &Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St.Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent & theGrenadines) signed up to the CSME in July 2006.

A Regional Development Fund to assist in mitigating negative impacts of OECSparticipation in the CSME was also agreed. The CARICOM trade policy is to removeremaining internal barriers through progressive movement towards a maximumharmonized tariff, further harmonization of customs procedures and establishment of acustoms union. A Common External Tariff (CET) has been introduced. Quotas remain aswell as allowed tariffs on some agricultural and other products, which should have beenremoved by the end of 2008.

A corresponding policy of legal, institutional and judicial reform is intended to create anappropriate enabling environment for these moves. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)was established in 2006. The Caribbean States that make up the Organization of theEastern Caribbean States (OECS) (all of whom are members of CARICOM) constitute insome ways an inner circle of Caribbean economic/monetary integration, and have, sincethe colonial era, a long tradition ofcooperation. In more recent times, the nature of thecooperation has taken on a more functional and development-oriented character.

The OECS' main objective is economic integration among its member states, and theyhave a single currency and an Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, exercise commonmonetary and exchange rate policies, share a common supreme court, jointly regulate the

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telecommunications sector, cooperate on someissues of public procurement andcollectively govern their airspace. In the medium term they intend to further thisfunctional and economic integration. The organisation has begun technical work withrespect to: creating regional support systems and mechanisms for the police and prisonservices; creating centres of medical and surgical specialization acrossMember States;

and establishing an Economic Union, with free movement of productive factors.

The CARICOM Member States are: Antigua/Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Dominica,Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts/Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent/theGrenadines, Suriname and Trinidad/Tobago.CARICOMs Associated Members are:Anguilla (1998) ; Bermuda (2003); British Virgin Islands (1991); Cayman Islands (2002);Turks and Caicos Islands (19912Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat,St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Anguilla and the BVI areassociate members.

The next circle is the Caribbean Forum of ACP States, also known as CARIFORUM, was

created in 1992 by inter-governmental agreement, as a political group including not onlythe CARICOM Member States, but also what were then the new signatories to theLomConvention, namely, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Suriname although thelatter two have since acceded to CARICOM. Cuba is also now a member state ofCARIFORUM, although it is not a signatory to the Cotonou Agreement.

The CARIFORUM mandate is to manage and coordinate policy dialogue between theCaribbean region and the EU, to promote integration and cooperation in the Caribbeanand to coordinate the allocation of resources and manage the implementation of RegionalIndicative Programmes financed by the European Development Fund and regional programmes financed by member states of the EU and any other source. The EU-Caribbean Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) was concluded on a CARIFORUMwide basis.

Hemispheric relations are important to CARICOM/CARIFORUM, as part of its globalintegration objectives. In that regard, the region is committed to effective participation inhemispheric and/or bi-lateral processes. The hemispheric strategies include strongtechnical and political representation, securing special and differential treatment andtransitional measures, design and implementation of measures to cushion the impact ofadjustments, monitoring of parallel negotiations and consistency with other multi-lateralnegotiations. All Caribbean countries are also part of the Association of Caribbean States(ACS).CARIFORUM includes all the Caribbean ACP States, namely all the CARICOMMember States exceptMontserrat (which is an OCT) plus the Dominican Republic andCuba.

HISTORY OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY

The establishment of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) wasthe result of a 15-year effort to fulfil the hope of regional integration which was born withthe establishment of the British West Indies Federation in 1958. It was a FederalGovernment drawn from 10 member islands. Although a plan for a Customs Union wasdrawn up, emphasis was not placed on economic aspects of Federation during the four

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years of its existence. Economically the Region remained as it had been for centuries andnot even Free Trade was introduced between the Member Countries during this period.The West Indies Federation came to an end in 1962 but its end, in many ways must beregarded as the real beginning of what is now the Caribbean Community.The end of the Federation meant the beginning of more serious efforts on the part of the

political leaders in the Caribbean to strengthen the ties between the islands and mainlandby providing for the continuance and strengthening of the areas of cooperation thatexisted during the Federation. To this end in mid-1962 a Common Services Conferencewas called to take decisions on these services, the major ones among them being theUniversity of the West Indies (UWI), founded in 1948 and the Regional ShippingServices set up during the Federation to control the operation of the two ships donated in1962 by the government of Canada - the Federal Palm and the Federal Maple.

The Caribbean Meteorological Service was established one year after, in 1963 and alongwith the UWI and the Regional Shipping Service, represented the heart of Caribbeancooperation directly after the end of the Federation.

In addition to the decision to continue the process of inter-state cooperation,notwithstanding the dissolution of the Federation, the year 1962 also marked twoimportant developments of a Caribbean Community: the attainment of independence byboth Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in August that year and with it the power tocontrol their own domestic and external affairs.

In announcing its intention to withdraw from the Federation, the Government of Trinidadand Tobago proposed the creation of a Caribbean Community, consisting not only of the10 members of the Federation, but also of the three Guianas and all the islands of theCaribbean Sea - both independent and non-independent.

To discuss this concept, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago convened the firstHeads of Government Conference in July 1963, in Trinidad and Tobago. This Conferencewas attended by the leaders of Barbados, British Guiana, Jamaica and Trinidad andTobago. At this Conference, the leaders of the four(4) Caribbean Countries all spokeclearly of the need for close cooperation with Europe, Africa and Latin America.

The first Heads of Government Conference proved to be the first in a series ofConferences among the leaders of Commonwealth Caribbean Countries. In July 1965,talks between the Premiers of Barbados and British Guiana and the Chief Minister ofAntigua on the possible establishment of a Free Trade Area in the Caribbean resulted inthe announcement that month of definite plans to establish such a Free Trade Area. Thiswas carried further in December that year (1965), when the Heads of Government ofAntigua, Barbados and British Guiana signed an Agreement at Dickenson Bay, Antigua,to set up the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA).

In the interest of common action and close cooperation among all the CommonwealthCaribbean territories, the actual start of the Free Trade Association was deliberatelydelayed in order to allow the rest of the Region, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica and all

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the Windward and Leeward islands to become members of the newly formed Free TradeAssociation.

The Fourth Heads of Government Conference agreed to establish CARIFTA formally andto include as many Commonwealth Countries as possible in a new agreement of

December 1965. It was also agreed that the Free Trade Association was to be the beginning of what would become the Caribbean Common Market which would beestablished (through a number of stages) for the achievement of a viable EconomicCommunity of Caribbean Territories.

At the same time in recognition of their special development problems, several specialprovisions were agreed upon for the benefit of the seven Member States, which nowmake up the OECS States and Belize.

The new CARIFTA agreement came into effect on May 1, 1968, with the participation ofAntigua, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. The original idea to permit all

territories in the Region to participate in the Association was achieved later that year withthe entry of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent inJuly and of Jamaica and Montserrat on August 1, 1968. British Honduras (Belize) becamea member in May 1971.

Emerging also from the 1967 Heads of Government Conference was the establishment ofthe Commonwealth Caribbean Regional Secretariat on May 1, 1968 in GeorgetownGuyana and of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in October 1969 in Bridgetown,Barbados.

It was at the Seventh Heads of Government Conference in October 1972, that theCaribbean Leaders decided to transform CARIFTA into a Common Market and establishthe Caribbean Community of which the Common Market would be an integral part.

At the Eighth Heads of Government Conference of CARIFTA held in April 1973 inGeorgetown, Guyana the decision to establish the Caribbean Community was broughtinto fruition with the consideration of Heads of Government of the draft legal instrumentsand with the signing by 11 members of CARIFTA (the exception being Antigua andMontserrat).

The Accord provided for the signature of the Caribbean Community Treaty on July 4 andits coming into effect in August 1973, among the then four independent countries:Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago.

The Georgetown Accord also provided that the other eight territories - Antigua, BritishHonduras, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Montserrat, St. Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla and St.Vincent which signed the Accord would become full members of the Community by May1, 1974.

The Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) was established by theTreaty of Chaguaramas, which was signed by Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad &

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Tobago and came into effect on August 1, 1973. Subsequently the other eight Caribbeanterritories joined CARICOM. The Bahamas became the 13th Member State of theCommunity on July 4, 1983, but not a member of the Common Market.

In July 1991, the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos became Associated

Members of CARICOM, followed by Anguilla in July 1999. The Cayman Islands becamethe fourth Associate Member of the regional grouping on 16 May 2002, and Bermuda thefifth Associate Member on 2 July 2003.

A number of States in Latin America and the wider Caribbean came on board asObservers in the various Organs and Institutions of the Community, and Puerto Rico, thefirst Overseas Commonwealth Territory of the USA is also seeking closer ties withCARICOM.

Suriname became the 14th Member State of the Caribbean Community on July 4, 1995.

Haiti secured provisional membership on 4 July 1998 and on 03 July 2002 was the firstFrench-speaking Caribbean State to become a full Member of CARICOM. TheCommunity is supporting this French-speaking nation in effectively participating in theregional integration movement. In 2001, CARICOM Secretariat established an office inthe capital, Port-au-Prince, to provide technical assistance to the Government.

From its inception, the Community has concentrated on the promotion of functionalcooperation, especially in relation to human and social development, and in integratingthe economies of Member States.

The independent Member States however, have also been pursuing a coordinated foreignpolicy.

All these initiatives are being supported by structural developments and adjustments tobridge gaps, eliminate barriers and forge a unified response among the stakeholders of theRegion in response to the challenging circumstances to secure a viable and sustainableCommunity, with improved quality of life for all its peoples.

The challenging circumstances of the integration movement does not only pertain to itseconomic welfare. In fact, the Region as a whole has not been spared the impact of thedeadly scourge of HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and narco-trafficking.

CARICOM, in a counter-attack, is mobilising a region-wide response in combat againstthese dreaded forces which threaten the very fabric of the society, more particularly itsmost precious resource, the Youth.

The Community had similarly rallied to the cause of sister state Montserrat when, in1995, the Soufriere Hills Volcano erupted and devastated two-thirds of the island. TheCaribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA), an Associate Institution,

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coordinated assistance from Member States to Montserrat. Reconstruction is now wellunder way, and the Community is supporting the Government and people in the process.

The Community is also responding to a regional framework prioritising the social andeconomic issues of the Community. Among the key partners in the process are the

Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL), the Caribbean Association of Industry andCommerce (CAIC) and the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC), workingalong with the Governmental machinery.

Some of the more recent areas they have been addressing include the CSME, externaltrade negotiations, air transport and maritime infrastructure policy and development;telecommunications policy; and employment generation.

At the Eighth CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting in 1987, the then PrimeMinister of Barbados , Erskine Sandiford, advanced the concept of a representative,deliberate institution, which would associate the people of the Region, through their

chosen representatives, with the task of promoting the Regional development process.

Two years later, at the 10th Conference of Heads of Government in Grenada, Barbadosfollowed up with a discussion paper outlining the proposal to the Conference. In March1990, agreement was reached on a draft Inter Governmental Agreement providing for theestablishment of the proposed body, the Assembly of Caribbean CommunityParliamentarians (ACCP) which brings on board the parliamentary opposition tocontribute to the Community's decision-making process. The inaugural sitting of theAssembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians (ACCP), took place in Barbados onMay 27-29, 1996. There have been two other Sittings since, the Second Sitting inGrenada on 14 October 1999, and the Third Sitting in Belize, 17-20 November 2000.

It was also at the Eighth Meeting of the Conference that the decision was taken toestablish the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), to replace the CommonMarket, strategically positioning the Community to participate in the globalised arena.

Preparations for the establishment of the CSME included the negotiation of nineProtocols which effectively amended the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which established theCaribbean Community and Common Market (the Revised Treaty). Protocol 1, providingfor the restructuring of the Organs and Institutions of the Community, and redefiningtheir functional relationship entered into force provisionally on July 4, 1997, and by earlyyear 2000, the last two remaining Protocols were signed, signaling a major stride towardsthe realisation of the CSME.

At this time, too, the Community was to experience national democratic challenges inthree Member States, first in Guyana, and then Haiti and St. Kitts and Nevis.CARICOM's role in these instances displayed strength of regional purpose, and its centralrole in the national cause of its Member States continues to be an effective influence inthe sphere of governance, which basically is a new and dynamic feature of the regionalintegration movement.

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In performing this critical role, CARICOM is empowered by the Charter of Civil Society,which, according to the Protocol of Port of Spain of 1992, the leaders in accepting therecommendation for the Charter declared that "a CARICOM Charter for Civil Society bedeveloped as an important element of the Community's structure of unity to deal withmatters such as free press; a fair and open democratic process; the effective functioning

of the parliamentary system; morality in public affairs; respect for fundamental civil,political, economic, social and cultural rights; the rights of women and children; respectfor religious diversity; and greater accountability and transparency in government".

In February 1997, in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda, the leaders in affixing theirsignatures to the Resolution adopting the Charter of Civil Society effected one of thestrongest recommendations from the West Indian Commission (WIC) report, "Time forAction". two years later another major institutional framework for the Community'sgovernance began taking shape.

At the Nineteenth meeting in 1999, the Heads of Government adopted in principle the

Agreement establishing the Caribbean Supreme Court which they decided then should benamed the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Meanwhile, the leaders were engaged in an all-out effort to stem the threateningcircumstances of the Caribbean Sea, the economic lifeline of the Region. In March 1999,and again in July 1999, they set about rejecting the Caribbean Sea as a transit for nuclearwaste materials. They were mobilised to protect the Region's waterway ecologicalfragility and economic importance for the well-being of the people of the Region whodepended on this unique resource for their very existence. The leaders appealed to theUnited States of America, with its responsibility for the passage of vessels through thePanama Canal, to use its authority to prohibit the shipment of hazardous nuclear materialsvia that route and into the Caribbean.

The leadership has since taken the Region's cause to the United Nations and has securedsupport to pursue a sustainable development management plan for the Caribbean Sea.

New challenges emerged late 2001, in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. In less thantwo months after the regular Meeting of the Conference , CARICOM Heads were onceagain meeting in the Bahamas, this time to craft an emergency response to rescue theTourism industry, the Region's vital economic sector - some 25% of the Region's GrossDomestic Product (GDP) and a significant share of the Region's employment force - fromvirtual ruin.

The political leadership joined forces with regional and international tourism bodies toinitiate a major campaign to save the Region's largest industry.

The latest development in this vital economic sector is a more focused and intensifiedregional cooperation to promote the Caribbean Region as a single destination. In whichcase, innovative strategies will be designed to strengthen the industry into a new dynamictourism product in the global market.

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Meanwhile, CARICOM is forging ahead with a comprehensive initiative to enhance thecoordination of the foreign policies of Member States and as a sub-regional body buildingnew relationships and consolidating existing ones, namely with the United NationsSystem, the Organization of American States (OAS), and regional groupings such as theSouthern African Development Community (SADC) and bilateral arrangements within

the wider Caribbean and Latin America.

Moreover, these developments are not without lucrative prospects for the Region. InDecember 2001, CARICOM concluded its first free trade agreement with the entry intoforce of the CARICOM/Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement.

This record achievement is similarly represented in the widening process of theCaribbean as notable hemispheric pursuits. The establishment in 1994 of the Associationof Caribbean States (ACS), the brainchild of CARICOM, and the Caribbean Forum ofAfrican, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) which convened its first session in1993, are major hemispheric links of the Community.

At the global level, CARICOM sought to strengthen its negotiating base. Thus in 1997,the Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) was established to coordinate theCommunity's external negotiations. The priority areas of focus are the FTAA, Post LomeIV, ACP-EU Relations, non-economic initiatives of the Miami Summit including theSecond Summit, and the World Trade Organization. At the beginning of 2002, the RNMwas set in a new mode in response to changes in the challenging global arena.

By the end of 1999, the Heads of Government of the Community was setting a new pacefor the regional integration process. The leaders had already been assigned specificresponsibilities relating to the establishment of the CSME, and early 2000 a quasi-cabinetwas formulated. The leaders are each tasked with specific portfolios.

The Heads of Government meeting at the Seventh Special Meeting of the Conference inChaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago in October of 1999 engaged themselves instocktaking, revisiting the Grand Anse Declaration of 1989 and examining the WorkProgramme adopted then, and they assessed the progress made in the implementation ofthe measures they had designed to take the integration movement forward into the lastdecade of the century. They also looked at the West Indian Commission Report Time forAction which followed their 1989 deliberations.

The results of their deliberations were formulated into the Consensus of Chaguaramas.The political leaders are now looking to now looking to engage Civil Society in chartingthe course forward into the new millennium.

The first such engagement was convened the following year to specifically look at theimplementation of the CSME. The stakeholders of the Community met again in 2001with a view to collaborating on an agenda for the Community's development under thetheme "Forward Together".

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One of the significant developments at the beginning of the new century was the fact thatin 2001, Heads of Government had signed the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramasestablishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market andEconomy, thus clearing the way for the transformation of the Common Market aspect ofCARICOM.

This not withstanding, and benefiting from the interaction with Civil Society, allowanceshave been made for the subsequent inclusion in the Treaty, by way of additionalProtocols, new issues such as e-commerce, government procurement, trade in goods fromfree zones, free circulation of goods and the rights contingent on the free movement ofpersons. Of special significance, too, was the inauguration of the Caribbean RegionalTechnical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) in November, based in Barbados. CARTAC isdesigned to play a significant role in the next phase of Caribbean development. Throughits advisory and training functions, CARTAC is expected to fill, on a sustainable basis, avital gap in the regional institutional capacity - public expenditure management, tax andcustoms administration, financial sector management, and in the compilation of economic

statistics.

At the 12th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference, the Heads signed the agreementfor the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice, emphasizing the central role ofthe Court in providing legal certainty to the operations of the CSME. In fact, by the endof the first year into the new millennium, the basic legal framework for the establishmentof the CSME was in place.

The Heads of Government in carrying out their first responsibility in accordance with theRevised Treaty, consequent upon the provisions of Protocol VII, have designated asDisadvantaged Countries the Less Developed Countries (LDCs) as identified by ArticleIII of the Treaty of Chaguaramas - Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada,Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, andGuyana identified by the international community as a Highly Indebted Poor Country.This Protocol provides for support to countries, regions and sectors so designate.

A quarter of a century after the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas, CARICOM hasevolved into an important player on the hemispheric and international stage, influencingthe discussions on a wide range of critical social, economic and political issues. Criticalto its progress, however, is the CSME in determining the future of the Region, both for itsinternal preservation and external fortitude.

The integrated protocols of the Treaty representing the advanced position of the evolutionof the Community, a fraternity that now embraces the peoples of the English, Dutch andFrench-speaking Caribbean, representing both independent and non-independent states.NOTES ON THE CARIFORUM

CARIFORUM (the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States) acts asthe mechanism of coordination between the Caribbean ACP countries and the EuropeanUnion in preparing and agreeing strategies to support the regional integration process of

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selecting and drafting projects eligible for assistance from the Regional IndicativeProgramme for the Caribbean Region (RIPCR), which was signed in July 1992 under theLom IV Convention and funded by the EDF. Cariforum is based inGeorgetown(Guyana), and its Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington from Trinidad, iswell known for his work with Caricom. Given that Cariforum has managed to acquire

considerable political clout over the years, it is hardly surprising that the press frequentlyconfuses it with Caricom. There are plenty of observers who believe that the best thingwould be for the functions of the Cariforum secretariat to be merged into Caricom at theearliest opportunity. While the Cariforum countries differ in the disparity of theireconomies, levels of development and diversity in terms of race, history, culture andlanguage, they nonetheless share common characteristics and problems. As stablecountries with moderate incomes and slow but steady growth rates (apart from thenotorious case of Haiti, the bottom-ranked LDC in the zone), they tend to remain over-dependent on the primary sector or on tourism in terms of creating jobs or building uptrade links. The narrow geographical confines of most of these countries constitute amajor barrier to their development, particularly since their economies are regularly

thrown into turmoil by natural catastrophes.

In terms of its commercial impact, the "All except Arms" proposal affects imports thatcurrently amount to some 78 million compared with a total of 8.7 billion for productsimported from LDCs. A drop in the ocean? Not necessarily, for the simple reason that thenew proposal covers a wide range of products that until now have been excluded from theofficial import statistics because of the excessive customs duty levied on them. Theremoval of a high degree of protection is aimed at stimulating the growth of imports fromthese countries. However, the granting of free access to products from the LDCs is not theonly important step intended to stop the downward economic and structural slide of thesecountries. In order to benefit from the possibilities opened up by the deregulation of trade,these countries will also be forced to find ways of producing a greater number of qualityproducts for export. This explains why a cornerstone of European policy will no doubtcontinue to remain focused on maintaining technical and financial assistance to the LDCsso that they can improve and broaden their export capacities. The initiative itself can betraced back to a meeting of ministers in Singapore at which WTO members decided toease the access of LDCs to the markets of the industrialised countries, principally bygranting exemptions to their exports from excise duties on an autonomous basis. In June1997, the Council of Ministers decided to extend the benefits enjoyed by ACP countriesto the LDCs that had yet to sign up to the Lom Convention, and to provide free access inthe medium term to the vast majority of LDC products- Bananas excluded. The factremains that, even after the 1998 reform of regulations governing standard preferentialsystems for LDCs, 944 of the 10,500 joint customs tariff items still remain outside thescheme. In June 2000 the Council of Ministers decided to move a step further byconcluding an agreement with the ACP countries to initiate an excise duty exemptionprocess and free up access for virtually all products originating from each LDC by 2005.The new proposal from the Commission now takes these commitments a stage further andaffects 48 of the poorest countries in the world. It intends to add a further 919 tariff itemsto the free access scheme. If the proposal is accepted by the Council and the EuropeanParliament, all products originating from LDCs could be import-ed duty-free into the EU

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countries - with the exception of bananas, sugar and rice. Customs duties on the latter aredue to be successively phased out in three stages over a three-year period.

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The CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME)

From Common Market to Single Market and Economy

A 'single market' is a space within which goods and services, people, capital and

technology freely circulate. When created among States, it involves, so far as markettransactions are concerned, the complete removal of physical, technical and fiscalfrontiers. Thus, for example, moving goods or services, capital or people from Trinidadand Tobago to Barbados would be no different from moving them across parish bordersin Barbados itself.

A single market is thus somewhat different from a 'common market' which is anarrangement among States to remove market barriers, while the frontiers themselvesremain. In the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, there is no concept of an area withoutfrontiers. In fact, to the contrary, the Treaty implicitly rests on the maintenance offrontiers, within which it is the aim to liberalize conditions of access to markets. Thus,

although the Treaty refers to a 'single market' this is in effect no different from the pre-existing common market.

The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas goes further to establish a 'single economy.' Thisrequires unified economic and monetary policies, including related legislation, executiveinstruments and institutions. One of the most important instruments of a single economyis a single currency .

The Revised Treaty actually provides, in principle, for most aspects of a single economy,incorporating the original protocols on establishment, services and capital; industrial policy; trade policy; agricultural policy; transport policy; disadvantaged countries,regions and sectors; competition policy and consumer protection; dumping and subsidies;dispute settlement. In addition, macroeconomic policy convergence, fiscal policyharmonization, monetary convergence, fiscal policy harmonization, monetaryunion/single currency, as well as the Caribbean Court of Justice, complete the mandatefor implementing the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

The free trade regime and the common external tariff (CET) were core features of theearlier Common Market, and of course are essential components of a CSME. There are afew notable single economy omissions, such as the absence of provisions in the Treaty forCommunity Transnational Enterprise Law, Labor Law and Property Law.

In the Grande Anse Declaration and Work Programme for the Advancement of theIntegration Movement, Heads of Government expressed their determination to worktoward establishing a single market and economy.

The CARICOM Single Market and Economy is intended to benefit the people of theRegion by providing more and better opportunities to produce and sell our goods andservices and to attract investment. It will create one large market among the participatingmember states.

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The main objectives of the CSME are: full use of labour (full employment) and fullexploitation of the other factors of production (natural resources and capital); competitiveproduction leading to greater variety and quantity of products and services to trade withother countries. It is expected that these objectives will in turn provide improvedstandards of living and work and sustained economic development.

Key elements of the Single Market and Economy include:

Free movement of goods and services - through measures such as eliminating all barriersto intra-regional movement and harmonising standards to ensure acceptability of goodsand services traded;

Right of Establishment - to permit the establishment of CARICOM owned businesses inany Member State without restrictions;

A Common External Tariff - a rate of duty applied by all Members of the Market to a

product imported from a country which is not a member of the market;

Free circulation - free movement of goods imported from extra regional sources whichwould require collection of taxes at first point of entry into the Region and the provisionfor sharing of collected customs revenue;

Free movement of Capital - through measures such as eliminating foreign exchangecontrols, convertibility of currencies (or a common currency) and integrated capitalmarket, such as a regional stock exchange;

A Common trade policy - agreement among the members on matters related to internaland international trade and a coordinated external trade policy negotiated on a joint basis;

Free movement of labour - through measures such as removing all obstacles to intra-regional movement of skills, labour and travel, harmonising social services (education,health, etc.), providing for the transfer of social security benefits and establishingcommon standards and measures for accreditation and equivalency.Other measures:

Harmonisation of Laws: such as the harmonisation of company, intellectual property andother laws.

There are also a number of economic, fiscal and monetary measures and policies whichare also important to support the proper functioning of the CSME.

These include:

Economic Policy measure: coordinating and converging macro-economic policies andperformance; harmonising foreign investment policy and adopting measures to acquire,develop and transfer appropriate technology;

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Monetary Policy measures: coordinating exchange rate and interest rate policies as wellas the commercial banking market;

Fiscal Policy measures: including coordinating indirect taxes and national budget deficits.

Single Market and Economy

The CSME will be implemented through a number of phases, the first being theCARICOM Single Market (CSM). The CSM was initially implemented on January 1,2006 with the signing of the document for its implementation by six original memberstates. As of July 3, 2006, it now has 12 members. Although the Caribbean Single Marketand Economy (CSME) had been established, it is only expected to be fully implementedin 2008. This will be achieved with the harmonization of economic policy, and possibly asingle currency.

At the eighteenth Inter-Sessional CARICOM Heads of Government Conference in St.Vincent and the Grenadines from 12-14 February 2007, it was agreed that while theframework for the Single Economy would be on target for 2008, the recommendations ofa report on the CSME for the phased implementation of the Single Economy would beaccepted. The Single Economy is now expected to be implemented in two phases.

Phase 1 was to take place between 2008 and 2009 with the consolidation of the SingleMarket and the initiation of the Single Economy. Its main elements would include:

The outline of the Development Vision and the Regional Development Strategy

The extension of categories of free movement of labour and the streamlining of

existing procedures, including contingent rights Full implementation of free movement of service providers, with streamlined

procedures

Implementation of Legal status (i.e. legal entrenchment) for the CARICOMCharter for Civil Society

Establishment and commencement of operations of the Regional DevelopmentFund

Approval of the CARICOM Investment Regime and CARICOM FinancialServices Agreement, to come into effect by January 1, 2009

Establishment of the Regional Stock Exchange

Implementation of the provisions the Rose Hall Declaration on Governance and

Mature Regionalism, including:o The automatic application of decisions of the Conference of Heads of

Government at the national level in certain defined areas.o The creation of a CARICOM Commission with Executive Authority in the

implementation of decisions in certain defined areas.o The automatic generation of resources to fund regional institutions.

o The strengthening of the role of the Assembly of Caribbean Community

Parliamentarians.

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Further technical work, in collaboration with stakeholders, on regional policyframeworks for energy, agriculture, sustainable tourism, agro-tourism, transport,new export services and small and medium enterprises.

During Phase 1 it is also expected that by January 1, 2009, there would be:

Negotiation and political approval of the Protocol on Enhanced MonetaryCooperation

Agreement among Central Banks on common CARICOM currency numeraire

Detailed technical work on the harmonisation of taxation regimes and fiscalincentives (to commence on January 1, 2009).

Phase 2 is to take place between 2010 and 2015 and consists of the consolidation andcompletion of the Single Economy. It is expected that decisions taken during Phase 1would be implemented within this time period, although the details will depend on the

technical work, consultations and decisions that would have been taken. Phase 2 willinclude:

Harmonisation of taxation systems, incentives and the financial and regulatoryenvironment

Implementation of common policies in agriculture, energy-related industries,transport, small and medium enterprises, sustainable tourism and agro-tourism

Implementation of the Regional Competition Policy and Regional IntellectualProperty Regime

Harmonisation of fiscal and monetary policies

Implementation of a CARICOM Monetary Union.

Caribbean Court of Justice

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is the proposed regional judicial tribunal to beestablished by the Agreement Establishing in the Caribbean Court of Justice. It has a longgestation period commencing in 1970 when the Jamaican delegation at the Sixth Heads ofGovernment Conference, which convened in Jamaica, proposed the establishment of aCaribbean Court of Appeal in substitution for the Judicial Committee of the PrivyCouncil.

The Caribbean Court of Justice has been designed to be more than a court of last resort

for Member States of the Caribbean Community of the Privy Council, the CCJ will bevested with an original jurisdiction in respect of the interpretation and application of theTreaty Establishing the Caribbean Community. In effect, the CCJ would exercise both anappellate and an original jurisdiction. In the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction, the CCJwill consider and determine appeals in both civil and criminal matters from common lawcourts within the jurisdiction of Member States of the Community and which are partiesto the Agreement Establishing the CCJ. In the discharge of its appellate jurisdiction, theCCJ will be highest municipal court in the Region. In the exercise of its original

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jurisdiction, the CCJ will be discharging the functions of an international tribunalapplying rules of international law in respect of the interpretation and application of theTreaty and so will be the court of arbitration for trade disputes under the CSME.

Trade in Goods

All goods which meet the CARICOM rules of origin are traded duty free throughout theregion (except The Bahamas), therefore all good originating within the region can betraded without restrictions. In addition, most member states apply a Common ExternalTariff (CET) on good originating from non-CARICOM countries. There are, however,some areas still to be developed:

Treatment of products made in Free Zones there is need for regional agreementon how these goods are to be treated since they are usually manufactured atreduced tariff by foreign companies.

The removal of some specific non-tariff barriers in various member-states.

Another key element in relations to goods is Free Circulation. This provision allows forthe free movement of goods imported from extra regional sources which would requirecollection of taxes at first point of entry into the CSME and for the sharing of collectedcustoms revenue.

Harmonization of Standards

Complementary to the free movement of goods will be the guarantee of acceptablestandards of these goods and services. To accomplish this, CARICOM members haveestablished the Caribbean Regional Organization on Standards and Quality (CROSQ).

The Organization will be responsible for establishing regional standards in themanufacture and trade of goods which all Member States must adhere to. ThisOrganization was established by a separate agreement from the CSME.

Regional Accreditation

Regional accreditation bodies are planned to assess qualifications for equivalency,complementary to the free movement of persons. To this end, the Member States haveconcluded the Agreement on Accreditation for Education in Medical and other HealthProfessions. By this agreement, an Authority (the Caribbean Accreditation Authority forEducation in Medical and Other Health Professions) is established which will be

responsible for accrediting doctors and other health care personnel throughout the CSME.The Authority will be Headquartered in Jamaica, which is one of among six states(Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago) in which isagreement is already in force. The Bahamas has also signed on to the Agreement.

Region-wide accreditation has also been planned for vocational skills. Currently localtraining agencies award National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) or national Technicaland Vocational Education and Training (TVET) certification, which are not valid across

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Member States. However, in 2003, the Caribbean Association of National Agencies(CANTA) was formed as an umbrella organization of the various local training agenciesincluding Trinidad and Tobago's National Training Agency, the Barbados TVET Counciland the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States TVET agency and the HEARTTrust/NTA of Jamaica. Since 2005, the member organizations of CANTA have been

working together to ensure a uniformed level of certified skilled labour under theCaricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) and CANTA itself has established aregional certification scheme that awards the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ),which is to replace NVQs and national TVET certifications. The CVQ will be school-based and although based on the certification scheme of CANTA, will be awarded by theCaribbean Examinations Council (CXC) which will be collaborating with CANTA on theCVQ programme. At the February 9-10, 2007 meeting of the Regional CoordinatingMechanism for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, officials discussedarrangements for the award of the CVQ which was approved by the Council for Humanand Social Development (COHSOD) in October 2006.

Trade in Services and The Right of Establishment

Along with the free trade in goods, the Revised Treaty also provides the framework forthe establishment of a regime for free trade in services. The main objective is to facilitatetrade and investment in the services sectors of CSME Member States through theestablishment of economic enterprises. The free trade regime for services grants thefollowing benefits:

The Right of Establishment - CARICOM-owned companies will have the right toestablish and operate businesses in any CSME member-state under the same terms andconditions as local companies, i.e. without restrictions. Managerial, technical andsupervisory staff of these enterprises will be able to enter and work without work permits

Region-wide Services - CARICOM service providers will be able to offer their servicesthroughout the region, again without work permits, usually on a temporary basis, e.g.,consultancies.

Work Permits and the Free Movement of People

The Free Movement of Skilled Persons, arises from an agreed CARICOM policy that wasoriginally separate but related to the original Protocol II of the Revised Treaty ofChaguaramas. The agreed policy, called The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) FreeMovement of Persons Act, is now enacted legislation in all the CSME Member States. Itprovides for the free movement of certain categories of skilled labour, but according tothe policy there is to be eventual free movement of all persons, originally by 2008, butnow by 2009. Under this legislation, persons within these categories can qualify for SkillsCertificates (which allow for the free movement across the region).

Since the start of the CSME, eight categories of CARICOM nationals have been eligiblefor free movement throughout the CSME without the need for work permits. They are:University Graduates, Media Workers, Artistes, Musicians, Sportspersons, Managers,

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Technical and Supervisory Staff attached to a company and Self-EmployedPersons/Service Providers. In addition the spouses and immediate dependent familymembers of these nationals will also be exempt from work permit requirements. At theJuly 2006 CARICOM Summit, it was agreed to allow for free movement of two morecategories of skilled persons; tertiary-trained Teachers and Nurses. It was also agreed that

higglers, artisans, domestic workers and hospitality workers are to be added to thecategories of labour allowed free movement at a later date, pending the agreement of anappropriate certification.

The freedom to live and work throughout the CSME is granted by the Certificate ofRecognition of CARICOM Skills Qualification (commonly called a CARICOM SkillsCertificate or just Skills Certificate). The Skills Certificate essentially replaces work permits and are obtained from the requisite ministry once all the essentialdocuments/qualifications (which varies with each category of skilled persons) are handedin with an application. The issuing ministry varies depending upon the CARICOMMember State. In Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica and Suriname the Skills Ceritificates are

issued by the Ministry of Labour. Grenada, Guyana, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobagohave Ministries for Caribbean Community Affairs which deal with the Certificates.Meanwhile, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and theGrenadines issue the Certificates through the Ministries of Immigration. The SkillsCertificate can be applied for in either the home or host country.

At the eighteenth Inter-Sessional CARICOM Heads of Government Conference inFebruary, it was agreed that artisans would not be immediately granted free movementstatus from January (as was originally envisaged), but would rather be granted freemovement by mid-2007. The free movement of artisans will be facilitated through theaward of Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQ) based on industrial occupationalstandards. The conference also agreed that the free movement of domestic workers andhospitality workers could be facilitated in a similar manner to the free movement ofartisans and that their cases would be considered after the CVQ model is launched.

The Free Movement of Labour is also being facilitated by measures to harmonize socialservices (health, education, etc.) and providing for the transfer of social security benefits(with the Bahamas also being involved). Regional accreditation will also facilitate thefree movement of people/labour.

Concurrent with (and to some extent pre-dating) the free movement of people is the easierfacilitation of intra-regional travel. This aim is being accomplished by the use of separateLines identified for CARICOM and Non-CARICOM Nationals at Ports of entry (alreadyin place for all 13 members) and the introduction of a CARICOM Passport andStandardized Entry/Departure Forms.

Nationality Criteria

In relation to a number of issues such as professional services, residency and landownership, legislation in the various member states used to discriminate in favour of theirindividual nationals. This legislation has been amended, as of 2005, to remove the

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discriminatory provisions. This will allow CARICOM nationals, for example, to beeligible for registration in their respective professions on an equal basis.

However, shortly before signing onto the CSM, the second batch of member states (all inthe OECS) negotiated an opt-out agreement with regards to land ownership by non-

nationals. As the OECS members of the CSM are all small countries and have limitedavailable land, they are allowed to keep their Alien Land Holding Laws or AlienLandholders Acts (which apply to the ownership of land by non-nationals), but will put inplace mechanisms to ensure compliance with the Revised Treaty that will monitor thegranting of access to land and the conditions of such access. As it now stands foreigncompanies or nationals have to seek legal permission to buy land. All other laws relatingto discrimination in favour of member state nationals only have been amended though.Among the non-OECS members of the CSM, there are no restrictions on private landownership by CARICOM nationals (although in Suriname, and possibly in the othermembers as well, restrictions still apply with regards to state-owned land).

Harmonization of Legislation

The Revised Treaty also calls for harmonized regimes in a number of areas: Anti-dumping and countervailing measures, Banking and securities, Commercial arbitration,Competition policy, Consumer protection, Customs, Intellectual property rights,Regulation and labelling of food and drugs, Sanitary and phytosanitary measures,Standards and technical regulations & Subsidies.

Draft model legislation is being developed by a CARICOM Legislative Drafting Facilityin collaboration with the Chief Parliamentary Counsels of the region

Free Movement of Capital

The free movement of Capital involves the elimination of the various restrictions such asforeign exchange controls and allowing for the convertibility of currencies (already ineffect) or a single currency and capital market integration via a regional stock exchange.The member states have also signed and ratified an Intra-Regional Double TaxationAgreement.

Single Currency

Although not expected until between 2010 and 2015, it is intended that the CSME willhave a single currency. As it stands a number of the CSME members are already in acurrency union with the East Caribbean dollar and the strength of most regionalcurrencies (with the exception of Jamaica's and Guyana's) should make any futureexchange-rate harmonization between CSME members fairly straightforward as a ste

Documents

Caribbean Integration Reader 2010 2011