When he visited here last month, Prime Minister of Barbados Owen Arthur informed that the CARICOM Single Market and Economy is not an ‘all or nothing deal’, meaning The Bahamas does not have to agree to the free movement of labour article of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
But another CSME expert believes if the country opts out of this aspect of the trading arrangement, it would benefit little from the regional agreement.
Desiree Field-Ridley, CARICOM’S advisor on Single Market and Sectoral Programmes who currently heads the CSME unit in Barbados, believes there is much The Bahamas stands to benefit from the Caribbean Single Market and Economy.
Her comments come as five categories of persons will now be able to move and work freely within 11 CARICOM states. Those categories include artists, sportsmen, musicians, media workers and university graduates.
When asked if The Bahamas would still be able to play a meaningful role in the CSME without agreement to free movement of labour, Mrs. Field-Ridley told the Journal from her Barbados office Friday, “Well, the CSME is about people. Services are provided by people so people would have to move to provide the service.”
She added, “Goods are produced by people so for people to establish a business elsewhere or even in their country, you would have to have people. I don’t think the issue can ever be that there should not be the free movement of people. I know that the concerns that some countries have is that they cannot at this point in time accommodate all persons, for example, unskilled labour which is why in terms of the movement of persons, it is being done on a phased basis.”
Under Article 45 of the revised treaty, member states have committed themselves to the goal of the free movement of their nationals within the entire region.
Reginald Lobosky, a former Chamber of Commerce president who is also a member of the Trade Commission, believes that there is nothing The Bahamas stands to gain from the CSME.
Mr. Lobosky spoke Saturday at a Bahamas Financial Services Board Seminar at the Radisson Cable Beach Hotel Saturday.
The Trade Commission, which was appointed by the prime minister, advised him shortly before he left for the Heads of Government Meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica in July, to delay a decision on the agreement.
Mr. Lobosky said the government should continue the consultation process, although he believes that ultimately, The Bahamas should reject CSME.
“Little benefit really exists as I see it in joining CARICOM,” he said. “I think, to the contrary, much damage may be done to us by joining.”
He pointed to statements made that if The Bahamas can opt out of the free movement provision of the agreement.
“What has been left unsaid is that exceptions and reservations of that type are limited by time and they are subject to intense negotiations,” Mr. Lobosky said. “The period of time most often mentioned in CARICOM with regard to such issues is a period of five years.”
In an earlier interview with the Bahama Journal, Bahamas High Commissioner to CARICOM A. Leonard Archer agreed that the wait was worthwhile.
“The Single Market and Economy is not a popular idea in The Bahamas at the moment and it’s going to take some time, I think, for the people to fully understand what the Single Market and Economy is and, therefore, it is better to take time and do it right than to rush it and perhaps make a mistake in so doing,” he said.
Mrs. Field-Ridley, meanwhile, believes that given what is happening outside of CARICOM regarding trading arrangements, The Bahamas would profit from CSME.
She said the greater challenges are going to come from the Free Trade Area of the Americas and the World Trade Organization.
“What the Single Market and Economy is attempting to do is to use the resources in the region, skills, financing, services, to strengthen our businesses and our nationals to put them in a better position to face the competition which will come from the FTAA when it comes into being around 2005.”
Mr. Archer also believes that The Bahamas must eventually say yes to the CSME.
“I’ve said publicly that the key benefit to The Bahamas in the Caribbean Single Market and Economy is that The Bahamas outside of CARICOM would be treated as a developed economy,” he said. “In other words, we would have to go to the capital markets if we want to borrow money in much the same way as the United States, France, Germany and so on, because our per capita income does not qualify us to be a lesser developing economy.”
Mr. Archer also pointed to the interconnectivity of decision making on CSME and other trade arrangements like the pending Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
“I believe that there is going to be a Free Trade Area of the Americas,” he said. “I believe that The Bahamas will have to be a part of the FTAA for the simple reason that America is driving the process and America is our major trading partner and we will have to continue to trade with America and if they are in the FTAA, then because we trade with them so much our relationship would change as a result of us not being a member.
“To safeguard our trade with America, it will become necessary for us to become a part of the FTAA and being a member of the CSME will be advantageous to us in the FTAA and, therefore, I think that we ought to become a part of the CSME in order to access the benefits that are likely to be available in the FTAA.”
Mrs. Field-Ridley said CARICOM will continue to forge ahead with implementing various aspects of the agreement.
The next move, she said, would be to extend the categories of workers permitted to move freely through the region.
By Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
