CSME specialists end two-day visit to Montserrat

Friday, December 19, 2003

BRADES, Montserrat: Steven McAndrew and Ivor Carryl, two Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) specialists, ended a two-day visit to Montserrat on Wednesday.

Messrs. Carryl and McAndrew held discussions with both government and private sector officials on the programme for the removal of restrictions in services, capital, establishment, approved categories of skills and facilitation of travel.

During their short stay on the island, the officials addressed issues relating to two specific areas of the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, which formally established the Caribbean Community thirty years ago.

Carryl said they looked at Chapter 3 of the Treaty which deals with the right of establishment, provision of services, free movement of capital and the movement of certain categories of skills and Chapter 5 which is concerned with the free movement of goods and all of the legal and administrative arrangements relating to trading goods.

He said that an important part of the mission here was to work with the Government of Montserrat on arriving at the scheme within which Montserrat can implement the provisions of the two chapters without creating too much difficulty for the island.

"Hopefully within two or three months... we could come to a practical programme which is going to express precisely how Montserrat is going to discharge its responsibilities," Carryl said.

McAndrew said the revised Treaty provides for selected categories who are eligible to free movement namely self employed service providers, persons who are moving to another member state to establish a business and those persons who the right to bring along their managerial, supervisory and technical staff.

"Furthermore, the revised Treaty provides for the movement of university graduates, artistes, musicians, sportsmen and women and media workers...those are currently the categories which have the right to freedom of movement. If you don't belong to one of those categories, you will still have to go the traditional route which is to obtain a work permit if you want to work in another member state," McAndrew said.

McAndrew free movement is in place for university graduates, artistes, musicians, sportspersons and media workers in all member states except Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Haiti and the Bahamas.

Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis and Haiti are all working on trying to get on board with the free movement push, according to the Caricom CSME officials. The Bahamas is not part of the CSME arrangement at this time.

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