Many challenges to be overcome on road to CARICOM Single Economy
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| Published on Saturday, July 7, 2007 |
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GEORGETOWN, Guyana (GINA): The road to be traversed by Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states towards its destination of a Single Economy in 2015 is one with many challenges and for it to be successful much work at the policy, legislative, taxation and fiscal levels must be undertaken.
At the recently concluded 28th Heads of Government Summit of Regional Leaders in Barbados Professor Norman Girvan’s report, Towards a Single Development Vision and the Role of the Single Economy according to Guyana’s Head of State has been adopted as a road map to the Single Economy.
Back from the three-day meeting, Guyana's President Jagdeo at a Press conference on Friday offered a local response to the decisions and commitments emanating from the high-level Regional meeting.
“As you are aware we have worked very hard to put the Singe Market component into place that was easy, that was the first phase of the CSME but to get to a Single Economy it requires sustained action guided by a strategic plan and very tough decisions on the part of the Heads of the Community, and the people and leadership…of CARICOM.”
Jagdeo conceded that achieving a single economy will prove challenging but commitment and a coordinated approach might prove adequate to remedy the problems that may persist in the course of its implementation.
“This will not be easy. We have several countries in our community and a Single Economy requires a high-level of coordinated action supported by Community Law so that countries are going to be bound by those actions,” he expanded.
He said the successful journey to the CARICOM Single Economy requires among many things: a single currency. “The single economy comes into being within a monetary union…Europe took several years to introduce the Eruo but to have a common currency there has to be a lot of work put in place and strict adherence to the framework set out, a framework that requires States to be transparent and to meet certain criteria.”
Cardinal too, he stipulated, is the formation of a common taxation policy. “You know how difficult it is because our economies are structured differently we would have to find some modality to coordinate taxation without causing at the same time a shock to revenue or a disadvantage to economic activities.”
Next he expanded on the need to have a common investment framework as this too is very diverse owing to the geographic and other considerations that impact upon the sector.
In Guyana for instance where a large natural resources base exists, the country’s policy would be very different than sister island States in the Caribbean in which Tourism is a main economic sector
He said, “So as we get to the details of greater coordination of policies in these areas it’s going to present a significant challenge to our Community.”
The Conference agreed that the Single Economy should be fully operational by 2015 as proposed in the revised Report. In that regard, the Conference mandated the preparation of a Strategic Development Plan based on the revised Vision Report to be completed by June 2008.
Since the enactment of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas into domestic law and the declaration of the Single Market Compliance gave Community nationals rights and legitimate expectations of benefits. The Conference urged Member States that had not fully implemented the provisions of the Revised Treaty to fulfill their obligations. | | | | Reads : 41 |
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