Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has made it clear that Dominica does not support the notion of organization of Eastern Caribbean States’ exit from the Caribbean Single Market and Economy.
He made the disclosure while addressing a press conference on Monday.
Established in 2001, CSME is an important part of the regional integration process and a driver of economic integration and resilience. The CSME is a single economic space that promotes intra-regional commerce and increases private sector competitiveness. It was created to help overcome the issues associated with limited market size by grouping markets within the Community.
However, amidst recent concerns about the usefulness of this mechanism for the tightly grouped OECS nations, at last week’s 7th meeting of the OECS Assembly St. Lucia’s opposition leader Allen Chastenet threw out the idea that the small island bloc may benefit from withdrawing, and taking an independent approach to negotiations with other CARCIOM countries.
“Would we be better off?” he challenged.
Concurrently, St Vincent and The Grenadine’s Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, acknowledged what he says must be “seriously regretted”, that within CARICOM there are “inequities” that need to be addressed, though he was more circumspect in his suggestions of a possible parting of ways.
Gonsalves emphasized that it would have to be out of necessity, considering whether each member state “receives value greater than it otherwise would have realized, had it not been a member.”
Meanwhile, Skerrit’s response is clear, saying, “Certainly, Dominica doesn’t support the exit from the CSME neither do we support the suggestion of exiting from CARICOM [Caribbean Community], “
“In a family, you may have disagreements, but you have to look at it, and I think CARICOM needs to have a very sincere conversation about the present state of CARICOM, and the future of CARICOM, where all members are concerned.”
He continued, “And so I’m hoping that at the CARICOM meeting in Jamaica next month, that those matters can be discussed and fleshed out. But certainly, we do not support the notion of exiting.”
He said it makes no sense for countries to exit from CARICOM and have bilateral engagements.
“We are prime ministers and presidents of these big continents and these huge populations and these huge economies,” he noted.
He further noted that it is important in this very difficult, challenging, and uncertain world that CARICOM rises to the occasion and even closer together for the greater good of all citizens.
He went on to employ the allegory that there is no one country in the world that one can visit with a fishing rod and declare that he/she wants to fish in the ocean by himself/herself.
“And so we are strong on integration, we are strong on regional solidarity. People know me, I am very strong on this. That’s intrinsic within me and I think that we have to find a way of allowing that, enabling that solidarity to be more entrenched and more present,” he said.
The prime minister expressed his belief that if something affects one country (in a collective), it is certainly going to affect every other country.
“We have seen it, in less than 30 minutes, all countries can be wiped out,” he remarked. “And we are islands. We don’t have this land mass where you can run from one state to the other,” he explained. “And our economies are very vulnerable to external shocks, so I think we should move towards creating a single space within the Caribbean and helping ourselves work together.”
Even within CARICOM, Dominica is the beggar. The one country that stands no chance of standing on its own if CARICOM is no more is Dominica! But the government and people here have become so good at celebrating mediocrity and failure for success, that I don’t think they know the difference between the two anymore. Just look at the dunce caliber we choose for our leader and government!
for thos who doesn’t know, regional integration only benefits the larger economies of Jamaica and trinidad. these countries flooding our markets with their products e.g grace in jamaica and marcy cooperation in trinidad due to the fact that their countries are into secondary production (manufacturing), we in small islands like dominica will only benefit if development is done throughout the caribbean and not in the big caricom countries as is being done now
The larger territories have a huge advantage over their smaller counterparts. Barbados, Jamaica, T&T and Guyana have many more professionals and skilled workers than the rest of the region. They also produce, manufacture much more for export to these smaller islands. Their goods are often expensive and of an inferior quality.
On a more serious note, I think Roosevelt should take legal action against his barber. Sue him for malpractice on his head.
lazy government. the do nothings. CARICOM is not worth the small countries anything. the do no work and get nowhere. OECS has a formula that can do them good done right but with lazy governments in way over their heads.