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The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is pursuing an active programme of deepening integration in the Caribbean Region, particularly through the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) which officially entered into force on 1 January 2006. The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy created binding commitments with respect to the free movement of goods and services, free movement of persons, free movement of capital and the right of establishment.
To ensure the practical effectiveness of the CSME, specific development interventions are required. In this context, a Contribution Agreement was finalised in October 2007, between representatives of the Government of Canada and the Caribbean Community for the CARICOM Trade and Competitiveness Project (CTCP). Effective implementation of the Project started in May 2008 when the First Meeting of the Project Steering Committee (PSC) approved the Work Plan for 2008.
Goal
The goal of the CTCP is to provide more and better opportunities for the people of the CARICOM region to participate in and benefit from the introduction of the CSME. Under the CTCP, the CARICOM Secretariat, in collaboration with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Secretariat and participating countries will fulfill parts of the mandate given by the Community to work with Member States to implement their CSME obligations. The purpose of the interventions is to facilitate the operational effectiveness of the CSME to ensure that rights and benefits expected by nationals of the Community are not frustrated by elements of the implementation process.
Objectives and Outcomes
The objectives and outcomes of the project are:
(1) Reformed administrative rules, systems and procedures.
(2) Individuals and entities entitled to benefits or rights under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas processed and otherwise facilitated.
(3) Regional and Member State administrative and regulatory practices that recognise and integrate environmental and gender related objectives as appropriate.
(4) Full and free access to labour and services markets within the region by wage and non-wage earners in professions requiring licensing & certification. Mutual recognition by regional governments of licenses and certificates.
(5) Increased understanding and greater participation in implementation of the CSME by non-state actors in the region.
Project Components
The CTCP consists of a Core CSME Component and a Haiti Component. The four (4) main elements of the Core CSME Component are:
1. Harmonisation and standardisation of administrative practices and Procedures (Component 100);
For the full and efficient functioning of the CSME, the creation of systems and procedures is required to facilitate management and administration at the national level. Comprehensive reviews of Member States administrative systems will be undertaken and, accordingly, the existing manual of administrative procedures will be revised.
2. Enhancing the effective functioning of the services and labour markets through standardised licensing and certification and mutual recognition of licenses and certificates (Component 200);
To ensure better access to the labour and services markets in the Member States and thus give practical expression to “free movement of skills”, an assessment and analysis of the existing legal and institutional arrangements in Member States will be undertaken in order to build regional capacity for quality assurance, standards setting and region-wide recognition in relation to certification and licensing for persons in the technical and vocational areas.
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- A National Coordinator;
- A National Coordinating Committee comprising representatives of Government departments, the private sector, employers, labour and NGOs,
- Links to the Committee of Permanent Secretaries; and
- Oversight by a Minister of Government.
3. Widening the scope of participation by stakeholders and beneficiaries in the process of decision-making, implementation and operation of the Single Market (Component 300);
The Conference of Heads of Government of the Community has recognised the critical role that non-state actors and the wider civil society play in ensuring the operational effectiveness of the CSME. The effective participation of these stakeholders will require the creation or improvement of the infrastructure for their participation in the implementation processes. The CTCP seeks to contribute to this process through the development of national plans of action and the provision of technical assistance to Member States.
Gender and the Environment are treated as cross-cutting themes in the project but managed under this component.
The environment is the basis for all inputs (metals, minerals, soil, forests and fisheries), and for the energy needed to process them. It also receives the waste products of economic activity. Resolution of environmental issues is therefore central to the effective functioning of the CSME. As part of the Region’s development thrust, there is need for the adoption of a harmonised regulatory regime which protects, preserves, enhances and manages the productive potential of the natural environment to ensure sustainable development. This would enable investors and other economic agents to operate across the entire space of the CSME on the basis of the same policies and regulations that are publicly known, and applied in a predictable and transparent manner.
The Region is also faced with monitoring the implementation of the CSME, including its impacts and implications for all CARICOM citizens. The investment opportunities generated and the increased economic activity all have major implications for the women and men in the Community. The issues of social development, social formations, social relations and social adjustment need to be recognised as underpinning the CSME, and where there are imbalances, social justice considerations must be integrated into the movement of people. Integration of a gender perspective into every step of the policy, programming and procedural process will contribute to the maximisation of access to resources and benefit from opportunities.
4. A ‘call down’ facility for Consultations (Component 400).
The need for a project infrastructure at both the National and Regional level was Identified and recommended. The Project’s infrastructure at the National level which is currently in place in all of the participating Member States comprises:
Implementing Partners
The Project is designed to ensure the effective involvement of a number of stakeholders, the Partner Organisations (PO). The POs are:
- The Secretariat of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean Member States (OECS)
- Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC);
- Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL);
- Caribbean Employers Confederation (CEC);
- Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD); and
- Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC).
The CTCP is an ambitious undertaking by the Community which focuses on a better functioning CARICOM Single Market and Economy for the peoples of the Region by addressing reform and improvement of administrative and regulatory systems, improved access to the labour and services markets in the Community and increased participation of all civil society.
The OECS Secretariat as an Implementing Partner
ROLES/RESPONSIBILITIES
The OECS Secretariat made its commitment to the project by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the CARICOM Secretariat on April 22nd 2009.
The Secretariat is responsible for project implementation in the six (6) OECS Member States, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Secretariat will liaise with component managers for each of the three components in the tasks of coordination and the preparation and submission of work plans, reports and project analyses. It will also liaise with national coordinators to execute the project in its Member States who participate in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.
The OECS Secretariat is also a member of the Project Steering Committee and Project Management Team and will also participate in other relevant meetings related to the management of the Project.
ACTIVITIES
The OECS Secretariat is undertaking the following activities;
- Project launches in the Six (6) independent Eastern Caribbean States.
- Briefing and Mobilization meetings with Partner Organizations namely;
- CAIC- Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce
- CEC- Caribbean Employers Confederation
- CCL- Caribbean Congress of Labor
- CARICAD- Caribbean Center for Development Administration
- CPDC- Caribbean Policy Development Centre
- Project output review meetings
- Project Steering Committee
- Project Coordinating Committee
- Meeting of the National Coordinators
- Project Reporting and Monitoring through,
Project Staff and Additional Information
The following project staff are responsible for undertaking the aforementioned activities and they may be contacted for additional information on the project.
Ms. Sandra Jones
Senior Technical Officer
Email-
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Telephone- 758-455-6317
Fax #- 758-453-1628
And
Ms. Alvarine Neale – Williams
Administrative and Accounting Officer
Email-
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Telephone- 758-455-6318
Fax# - 758-453-1628 |
