THE DEPARTING Jamaican high commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago and dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Lorne McDonnough, stated that the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) presented the region and Jamaica with a range of new and significant opportunities, which will bring "a new dynamism to the Caribbean marketplace and strengthen commercial interchange within the region."
He anticipated that the CSME would lead to a new entrepreneurial thrust, not only with large CARICOM corporate interests, but small and medium enterprises expanding their productive base and creating additional employment. "The last six years, he added, has been exhilarating, because I have had the opportunity, from my base in Trinidad and Tobago, to be an observer and a participant in the process leading to the creation of an instrument and also the active monitoring of that process, which will indeed define Caribbean integration for some time to come," he said.
FAREWELL RECEPTION
McDonnough's comments came at a farewell reception he and his wife, Michelle Gyles-McDonnough, hosted in Port-of-Spain. The reception was attended by former Trinidad and Tobago president, A.N.R Robinson, government ministers, a wide cross section of private sector leaders, diplomats, the Jamaican community and friends of Jamaica. The high commissioner, who demitted office last week, served as Jamaica's representative to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, Barbados, Guyana and was ambassador to Suriname. He was also Jamaica's permanent representative to the Association of Caribbean States and consul-general to the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
CONCRETE STEPS
Expressing confidence about the prospects for future regional economic cooperation, the high commissioner noted that CARICOM governments were taking concrete steps to incorporate the private sector in the Caribbean, as well as civil society organisations into the integration process. "The formation of a seamless single economic space, which will serve to facilitate the movement of goods, services and capital across the region, enhance market competitiveness and further promote extra-regional trade, intrinsically depends on the full participation, if not the leadership, of our private sector partners," he said.
"Our regional governments clearly have a central role in the removal of barriers to trade and the harmonisation of legislation in member states, which are undoubtedly critical to the optimal functioning of the CSME. In the end, however, it is the private sector that must take advantage of these provisions under the CSME, High Commissioner McDonnough noted.
