As Caribbean nations work to meet the December 2005 deadline for implementing the core elements of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), the Bahamas remains firm in its view that it should be exempted from the free movement of people.
Prime Minister Perry Christie told The Tribune on Monday: ”We have not moved our position. We’re still at the stage where we note with interest that some memeber countries have complied with the requirement to pass laws to facilitate certain segments of socety to move freely while some countries haven’t done that yet, but we have taken the view that we are unable to agree to any kind of free movement. We continue to have our position reinforced by the view that the last time the CARICOM Secretariat focused on the matter, the study they commissioned argued that the Bahamas has recieved more CARICOM nationals than any single CARICOM country, and given the peculiarities of the Bahamas, economy and history, it could argue that it should be expempted.”
Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson said CARICOM must ”redouble its efforts” to implement the CSME on time, and that “our most urgent task remains the sensitisation of our citizens.”
”The goals of the integrations movement can only be realised with the full support and participation of the people of the region,” he said. CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington also called for intergration to be accompanied by sustained public education, saying that “people rather than institutions are creators and producers of development.” With this in mind, two new CARICOM information services were launced on Sunday — Radio CARICOM and the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network.
Source: Robert Bain, The Tribune
