Thursday, June 29, 2006

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington, in his welcome remarks to a gathering at the Sherbourne Conference Centre in Barbados on Wednesday, pointed to “early harvest” in the CARICOM Single Economy process.

He was at the time referring to the recent acceptance by a Special Meeting of the CARICOM Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP) of a composite formula for the financing of Member States’ contributions to the CARICOM Regional Development Fund, with the facilitation of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The occasion, Caribbean Connect, is a High-Level three day Symposium 28-30 June 2006, on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) hosted by Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados, Head of Government with responsibility for coordinating the implementation of the CSME.

Prime Minister Arthur and Patrick Manning , Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Chairman of CARICOM, addressed the opening session of the symposium, attended by close to three hundred. These included Ministers of Government of Member States, Heads of regional organisations, Chief Executive Officers of major Caribbean industries, finance and development organisations, the diplomatic and Donor Community, International Organisations, Universities, the Labour movement and civil society.

The Secretary-General described the regional Development Fund as “not simply a source of additional financing for Member States, but intended to underwrite this Region’s transformation into a dynamic and modern economy.” He warned that limited versions of the Fund such as an interest subsidisation mechanism would not satisfy this objective.

Less than a week before CARICOM Heads of Government meet in St Kitts and Nevis for their Twenty-Seventh Regular Meeting and the signing of the instruments of accession to the Single Market by the remaining six Member States, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Secretary-General Carrington urged that “the dialogue must continue, but from the stance of, hopefully, shared goals and objectives, as well as a common understanding and appreciation of the issues to be confronted in the short to medium-term.”

The CARICOM Single Market came into operation on 1 January 2006 with six of an anticipated twelve Member States; Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

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