Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is set to travel to Barbados on Wednesday to attend the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government conference.
The conference will take place from February 19-21 under the theme: “Strength in Unity: Forging Caribbean Resilience, Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development.” An opening ceremony will be held on the afternoon of February 19 at the Lord Erskine Sandiford Centre, Bridgetown.
Heads of Government are expected to discuss several pressing issues for the Community, including food and nutrition security; climate change and the climate finance agenda; as well as the ongoing challenges in Haiti; security issues; digital resilience; external relations matters and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) among other topics.
“I will be traveling to Barbados on Wednesday to attend the CARICOM Heads of State, Heads of Government conference,” he announced. “At the conference of heads we will be discussing many issues including free movement. As you know I have been advancing the cause of all people in CARICOM.”
According to him, integration has to be about everyone benefiting and participating in this project.
“I am hoping that we can make some progress in Barbados and get the full free movement,” he stated. “I have made it clear to them, because they now want to add pilots and flight attendants.”
Skerrit continued, “I want people to support this because this is just convenient and I believe that if we are truly committed to the CARICOM project, which I believe we are, then we have to show it in a tangible way.”
He believes the best way to show this is for people to be able to move freely in the Caribbean.
“And this notion that people are going to flock into one country or another country, the evidence doesn’t show that,” the prime minister remarked. “None of our economies are strong as it is that people are going to flock to a country for opportunities. We do not have enough people in the Caribbean…”
He added, “We need to be able to have the movement of people so that we all can benefit from the skills, talents, and opportunities that exist within the Caribbean space.”
Scheduled to deliver addresses are the Chairman, Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados; outgoing Chairman, Hon. Dickon Mitchell of Grenada; the new Premier of Montserrat, Reuben T. Meade, and CARICOM Secretary-General, Dr Carla Barnett.
Special Guests include; Secretary-General of the United Nations, H.E. Mr. António Guterres, and the President of the European Commission, H.E. Ms. Ursula von der Leyen will also address the Ceremony.
I thought high on the agenda would be the harmonized electoral campaign finance legislation that you keep talking about.
Sa Kway Marteh!!!
Anything to correct the flaws in the electoral system is strictly off limits for most of these miscreants. A corrupt electoral system works well for the incumbent political parties. These rulers are lawbreakers. The more lawlessness in their country, the longer they remain in power.
CARICOM is an all boys’ club.
Did CARICOM heads of Gov’t agree to send the RSS to Dominica one day before a general election there?
The RSS tear gassed the Community of Salisbury while residents were asleep. An unprecedented, irresponsible act against a Community of people advocating for electoral reform like many other citizens, regional and international election observers, and legal luminary, Sir Byron in Dominica. Even the CCJ advised that reforms would ensure free and Fair elections.
Note well, many of the other CARICOM member States have implemented the very same changes that Dominicans have been pleading for Years. Will there be a repeat by CARICOM’s RSS?
pM is to damb corrupt and anything he is part of has to be for corrupt personal reasons
I am adamantly against free movement of CARICOM nationals to travel and work in any member country. Here are my reasons and misgivings.
The smaller members will be at a huge disadvantage. How many of our people from the smaller islands take up permanent residence to work and live in the larger territories namely Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Guyana.
Nationals of these aforementioned jurisdictions are migrating to the smaller members in droves. They not only put additional stress on our health, education and penal systems, they also take a solid percentage of the skill jobs particularly. Many of them bring their criminal habits also.
Conversely, their economies are so bad that they are bleeding jobs instead of breeding jobs. Employment for our nationals ( OECS territories) is near impossible.
Hardly anyone has any confidence in the competence of the present crop of rulers. There is no integrity to their ambitious agenda. Just another talk-shop.
OECS is way ahead with free movement. I can travel anywhere within the OECS with an ID other than passport.
I am awaiting to see.
Living in the Caribbean region at present is excruciatingly unbearable. You have to overcome high electricity and water rates, starvation wages and salaries, astronomical inflation, escalating crime wave, high healthcare cost but poor silvery of said service. I can continue ad infinitum.
We need astute leaders not rulers. Every time these headless rulers meet life becomes increasingly harder. They over promises and under delivers every time.
Now look at their sew of issues down for discussion. Quite relevant! Sadly, none of these will come to fruition.
These rulers to:
Stop talk. Just act.
Stop say. Just show.
Stop promise. Just prove.