Appendix 2. Delivering the CSME by 2005: The Port of Spain Statement on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy

• Author: UWI-CARICOM Project
• Pages: 188-190

188 CSME: Challenges, Benefits, Prospects

Appendix 2 - DELIVERING THE CSME BY 2005:

THE PORT-OF-SPAIN STATEMENT

ON THE CARICOM SINGLE MARKET AND ECONOMY

Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) met in

Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, for the Tenth Special Meeting 8-9

November 2004, pursuant to the decision of the Conference at its Twenty-

Fifth Regular Meeting at Grand Anse, Grenada in July 2004 to convene a

Special Meeting to discuss progress towards the establishment of the

CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), including realising the

Single Market targets by 2005. They declared their resolve to advance the

regional integration movement as a vehicle for the economic and social

development of all Member States, their peoples and the CARICOM Region

as a whole.

Heads of Government remain convinced of the logic of the CSME, its

embodiment of the essence of a mature economic integration enterprise and

its potential for unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit that is inherent in the

Caribbean people, for stimulating the productive sectors of Member States,

for increasing productivity within such sectors and for building a Caribbean

architecture of economic independence, sustained economic growth and social

cohesion.

In this context, Heads of Government reviewed the status of

implementation in each Member State towards the 2005 timeline agreed in

2002 - and fast tracked by the decision of Heads of Government at their

Fourteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting in 2003, to 2004 for Barbados, Jamaica

and Trinidad and Tobago - for the removal of restrictions. Those States

committed to meeting the 2004 timeline are on track for achieving this.

Those on target for 2005 will be able to do so with some technical assistance

and facilitation by the CARICOM Secretariat. Legal amendments have been

prepared and submitted to each Member State so that the legislative process

can be completed.

A realistic assessment of the implementation of the CSME by Member

States indicates that overall, the core measures relating to the establishment

of the Single Market would be in place by December 2005.

Key elements to complement the removal of restrictions on the free

movement of goods, services, capital and skilled CARICOM nationals include

the financing of the CSME Work Programme and the establishment and

operationalising of the Development Fund for Disadvantaged Countries,

Regions and Sectors. The Conference mandated the Council for Finance and