(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States continue to benefit from a project which makes it easier for CARICOM nationals to participate in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

The project, Component 100, is one of the three substantive mechanisms of the CARICOM Trade and Competiveness Project in the CARICOM Region (CTCP) and is geared towards harmonizing and standardizing administrative practices and procedures under the CSME. By year-end it would have been launched in a total of ten Member States with Guyana, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago being the latest group scheduled. The project, which is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), will continue next year in the two remaining Member States that are participating in the CSME, Barbados and Saint Lucia.

After each launch, a complete diagnostic and analytical review of the Member State’s administrative systems is conducted as well as a legislative review of the five (5) Single Market regimes - Free Movement of Goods, Free Movement of Skilled Nationals, Free Movement of Services, Free Movement of Capital and Right of Establishment. In addition, technical action plans for reform of the Member State’s administrative systems, practices and procedures will be investigated.

At the completion of the project component in each Member State, a report is submitted for review and after the submission of all reports, a regional meeting is scheduled to be convened to discuss the findings. To complete the consultation process, a revised CSME Manual of administrative procedures will be developed.

In addition to Component 100, there are two additional substantive components in the CTCP project, Component 200, which looks at enhancing the effective functioning of the services and labour markets and Component 300 which deals with widening the scope of participation by stakeholders and beneficiaries in the decision-making, implementation and operation of the Single Market.

Work has already commenced on Components 200 and 300, and, as with Component 100, there will be a regional discussion after the submission of the consultant’s reports.

Contact: salas@csmeunit.org