Some Implications of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy with Special Reference to Education and Gender

• Author: Elsa Leo-Rhynie
• Profession: Professor
• Pages: 303-323

303

Some Implications of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy

The Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) can be listed with

several other regional organizations worldwide that have been established

to promote regional cooperation on political, economic and social issues. It

is the outcome of several years of discussion and negotiation among the

member states of the Caribbean. Subsequent to the failure of the West Indies

Federation, and the granting of independence to some of the Anglophone

Caribbean countries in the 1960s, there was recognition of the need for some

agreement among the newly independent countries of the Caribbean to work

together towards the achievement of common goals. The Caribbean

Community and Common Market (CARICOM) was established by the Treaty

of Chaguaramas in 1973. This treaty did not, however, provide for the full

integration of the region. Globalization and new demands in a variety of

areas, but particularly in trade, made this greater collaboration increasingly

important. In 1989, therefore, 13 of the now 15 members of CARICOM met

at Grand Anse in Grenada to decide on an integrated development strategy

to chart their way into the 21st century. The key features of the Grand Anse

declaration in 1989 were:

· Deepening economic integration by advancing beyond a common

market towards a single market and economy.

· Widening the membership and thereby expanding the economic mass

of the Caribbean community - thus Suriname and Haiti were admitted

as full members in 1995 and 2002 respectively.

· Progressive insertion of the region into the global trading and

economic system by strengthening trade links with non-traditional

partners.

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22 Professor Elsa Leo-Rhynie

SOME IMPLICATIONS OF THE

CARICOM SINGLE MARKET AND

ECONOMY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE

TO EDUCATION AND GENDER

304 CSME: Genesis and Prognosis

Clearly, the primary purpose of this declaration was the establishment

of a single market and economy. The actual concept of the CSME was

framed in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that came into effect at the

22nd Heads of Government Conference in the Bahamas on July 5, 2001. The

CSME is designed to represent a single economic space within which people,

goods, services and capital can move freely, and as such it will require the

harmonisation and coordination of social, economic, and trade policies among

the participating member states.

The strengthening of CARICOM’s participation in the global trading

arena has been achieved through a series of bilateral trade agreements with

Latin American countries – Venezuela, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Cuba

and most recently, Costa Rica – as well as through full and effective

participation in multilateral and other major trade negotiations such as those

of the World Trade Organisation, the renegotiation of the Lome and Cotonou

arrangements with the European Union and the Free Trade Area of the

Americas (FTAA).

Achieving the consensus of 15 governments on the terms of the CSME

has not been easy, and CARICOM Heads of Government agreed to launch

the CSME in two phases. Accordingly, the Caribbean Single Market (CSM)

was launched on Monday, January 30, 2006 in Jamaica. Six countries:

Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Guyana, Belize, Suriname and Jamaica

signed a declaration recognising the existence of the CSM. There were, in

addition, six member states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

(OECS) - Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St.

Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines – which signed a declaration of

intent and announced that they should be ready to join the CSM by the end

of June 2006.

The Bahamas, Haiti and Montserrat are the other three CARICOM

member states that complete the 15-member community and as at the time

of writing (November 2006) these have not yet signed on to the CSM nor

have they signalled their intention to do so.

On the occasion of the launch, the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the

Grenadines, the Hon Ralph Gonsalves, spoke emotionally of the milestone

that the CSM represents in Caribbean history. He said:

‘Today January 30, 2006, we reach and pass a milestone of historic

proportions as the maturation process of our Caribbean civilisation

continues. This civilisation acknowledges the disparity of our roots,

yet speaks clearly to the intimacy of our knowledge and understanding