The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Secretariat has registered serious concerns regarding the notable lack of aggressive engagement of the OECS Business Sector as the sub-region prepares for the proposed Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME). The Secretariat is therefore urging the Business Sector to engage cohesively and actively in the (CSME).

This urgent call has been expressed ahead of talks on the costs verses the benefits of OECS participation in the CSME during the 41st meeting of the OECS Authority from June 16-17 in Roseau. Over the past 18 months the OECS Secretariat has been encouraging the sub-region’s businesses to form a cohesive unit with a view towards shaping the capacity of the OECS to withstand the challenges and maximize the benefits of the CSME. However the Secretariat’s efforts to facilitate such dialogue have not yielded the anticipated vital response.

During a media briefing on Friday June 10 th at the OECS Secretariat, Director General Dr. Len Ishmael said the business sector has so far been out of the loop in light of the pending CSME.

“The OECS business sector has not taken a proactive role at all in the issue of CSME. My view very much is that the OECS business sector has been very much missing in action. At the level of the OECS Secretariat we have been trying for two years to form an OECS Business Forum to pull the business community together to provide a forum where they can have discussions among themselves and prepare for CSME and provide a vehicle that can allow them to table concerns to our Heads twice a year during the meetings of the Authority…Despite the fact that we have had money available to call such a sub-regional meeting, two years worth of trying have resulted in no results at all.”

Dr. Ishmael underscored that the proposed forum is of fundamental interest to the business community, the people of the OECS and the future of the sub-region as a whole. “It’s not countries that will be competitive. Firms are the ones that increase productivity by the degree to which they are able to be increasingly competitive…If they don’t sit at the table and discuss exactly what CSME means..we are not doing what’s in our strategic best interest.”

All CARICOM Member Countries are expected to sign on to the CSME by December 15 th 2005. The Director General further called for business organizations to collectively have their issues considered when decisions are made regarding the region’s development. Dr. Ishmael says time is running out.

“It is also equally important that professional groups within the OECS form their own associations so they can articulate their concerns and have those concerns tabled when policy decisions with respect to their future are going to be made. If you are not part of the game then your interests are simply not going to be tabled…That is the reality. It’s a lesson in life and we have missed several opportunities by virtue of the inability for us to get our OECS business sector to get together as a group.”-Dr. Ishmael 

Issues on the benefits and costs of the proposed CSME will be discussed when findings of an empirical study commissioned by the OECS Secretariat are tabled before the 41 st OECS Authority during the opening day on Thursday June 16 in Roseau. The OECS observes its 24 th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Basseterre on June 18 th 2005.

Contacts:
Kendol Morgan Senior Communications Officer OECS Secretariat This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Raymond O’Keiffe Comm.Officer OECS Secretariat email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it