CARRINGTON
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):
THE CARIBBEAN Community (CARICOM) Single Market (CSM) took effect yesterday, January 1, with six of the 15 members of the regional bloc on board.
CARICOM Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington, said the event would not be marked in any significant way. However, leaders will attend a special launch in Jamaica on January 23.
Carrington said while he was happy about the event, he would have preferred if all of the 15 members were on board.
"I would have been extremely pleased if we had all on board, but I understand that in life things don't always go the way we want them to."
Meanwhile, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning, who is the new chairman of CARICOM, has described the CSM as a significant step to regional integration.
"With the single market now in force, work continues with a view to bringing into being the CARICOM Single Economy by 2008," said the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, in a statement to mark the occasion.
With the advent of the single market, restrictions on provision of services, free movement of capital and of approved categories of skilled CARICOM nationals, have been removed among all participating Member States.
In addition, CARICOM nationals now have the right to establish busi-nesses, provide services and move capital in any member state of the Community under the same terms and conditions granted to the nationals of that country.
Participating CARICOM Single Market countries:
Barbados
Belize
Guyana
Jamaica
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago.
