Caricom Heads praise integration progress

Dominica’s Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit

CARICOM Heads at the 17th Inter-Sessional meeting in
Trinidad.  Photo by Maurice F. Merchant

Tuesday,  February 28, 2006

BASSETERRE, St Kitts: CARICOM Heads of Government have applauded the signing of the Agreement by The Bahamas to enable the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas to make the final step from Provisional Application to Entry Into Force.

The communiqué released at the end of the 17th Inter-Sessional in Trinidad last month said that the Revised Treaty is now applicable to all Member States of the Caribbean Community except, The Bahamas, Haiti and Montserrat.

The Heads of Government also complimented all Member States for their effort to comply with their Treaty obligations and agreed to give Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines until 30th June 2006 to become Single Market compliant.

In that regard, the Heads of Government mandated the Community Council and the Georgetown-based Secretariat to follow up closely with those countries to explore all feasible options to ensure completion of outstanding action for compliance by the agreed deadline.

With respect to the free movement of Skilled Community Nationals, Heads of Government agreed that with the establishment of the Single Market, it was even more urgent that the eligible categories of wage earners be expanded.

They mandated the Lead Head of Government with respect to Free Movement, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, to consult with the relevant stakeholders and develop recommendations for immediate expansion for consideration at their Regular Meeting in July in St. Kitts.

The Heads of Government also praised those Member States, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname, which had already introduced the CARICOM Passport and noted the timetable for the introduction of the CARICOM Passport in the other Member States, while urging them to accelerate the introduction of the passport where feasible.

The Heads of Government acknowledged the importance of Aliens’ Landholding for the small countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and mandated the CARICOM Secretariat to work with those countries to develop proposals to resolve the issue of access to land consistent with the Revised Treaty for their consideration at the Twenty-Seventh Meeting of the Heads of Government in July 2006 in the St. Kitts capital.

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