Hall

The bickering now taking place in CARICOM and the CSME is symptomatic of a larger concern of whether the goal is simply a large common market, or a genuine community that demonstrates how small countries with a similar heritage in the same economic space can come together to share common institutions for the benefit of all.

Currently, the broader Caribbean Community consists of some 16 countries grouped together in a number of different entities of which the most important are CARICOM, the CSME, and Cariforum. CARICOM consists of the traditional Caribbean countries plus Haiti and Surinam - some 15 countries; the CSME currently consists of CARICOM less Bahamas, Haiti and Montserrat, and Cariforum consists of CARICOM less Haiti and Montserrat but adds the Dominican Republic (DR). The DR has expressed a desire be a full member of CARICOM, and Haiti - though currently suspended from CARICOM pending a resolution of their economic and political problems - also anticipates becoming a full member of the CSME.

Cariforum was the negotiating entity for the Caribbean Community in the discussions that led to the signing of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union ( EU) and, we assume, will be the negotiating entity for other Free Trade type agreements. The EPA is a document that speaks to economic relationships between the Cariforum signatories and the EU, and also specifically seeks to strengthen and foster the development of the CSME. Of significance is the fact that the agreements reached between the EU and the signatories also apply among the Caribbean signatories but CARICOM agreements that are not a part of the EPA do not automatically apply to relations among all Cariforum countries. The DR, in other words, has not entered CARICOM through the back door, although as the barriers come down between the EU and the signatories they also come down among all Cariforum countries.

stated goals

CARICOM needs to have asked and answered the question of the viability of intra-regional shipping. - File

The stated goals of the CSME are:

Free movement of goods, services and capital

Right of establishment of CARICOM- owned enterprises to establish in any member state

Common External Tariff

A common trade policy

Free movement of labour

Harmonisation of laws

The problems being experienced within the traditional CARICOM countries in implementing these goals point to the impossibility of any full agreement on these goals in a larger CSME, including Haiti and the DR. Currently, there are disagreements within CARICOM over the free movement of goods and services, the administration of the Common External Tariff and the implementation of the Free Movement of Labour. The continuing use of alien land holdings provisions in some states hinders the right of establishment and CARICOM continues to struggle with the harmonisation of laws.

In the midst of all of this Trinidad and the OECS countries of the eastern Caribbean have publicly announced their intention to form a closer union. This could be interpreted as frustration with the pace of integration within CARICOM or as an attempt to frustrate the emergence of a true Common Market within CARICOM. It should also be noted that CARICOM consists of two classes of countries, the More Developed Countries (MDC) and the Less Developed Countries (LDC). Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Surinam are deemed MDCs and the other 10 are deemed LDCs.

special privileges in the EPA

It is difficult to understand the rationale of having LDCs today and why Jamaica and Guyana should enjoy the status of an MDC when their per capita income is much less than many of the LDCs. Although LDCs, for example, enjoy some special privileges in the EPA, I suspect that the MDC/LDC relationship is mostly cosmetic. Its existence, however, highlights the inability of CARICOM to be realistic as distinct from idealistic.

A CSME that includes Haiti and the DR must seriously consider membership for Cuba if Havana so wished. This CSME would be large and diverse, but is this the Caribbean Community that we want, and is it workable?

None of the above comments should be viewed as statements against sitting down with the DR, for example, and developing workable agreements on a range of trade, cultural and social matters. Indeed, that process is already on the way and agreements have been reached. We in Jamaica have but to look at the map to conclude that Haiti and the DR, along with Cuba, are our neighbours and that much good can come from being good neighbours.

A fully subscribed CSME would have four main languages - English, French, Dutch and Spanish - with widely different legal systems. The above terse description indicates that it is not that easy to forecast the future of the integration movement among the relatively small Caribbean countries.

The proponents of the integration movement argue that an enlarged CSME provides CARICOM companies with larger markets, allowing them to be more efficient as they can achieve acceptable scale economies and be better prepared to export beyond the CSME. I believe, however, that if we were able to wave a magic wand and see 15 to 30 years into the future we would see that Jamaica and perhaps all CSME countries continue to do the vast majority of their trade external to the CSME. The CSME by this yardstick is not a goal in and of itself but must be judged on how it facilitates growth - in all its forms - economic, social and cultural - in the region and for each country. The challenge is for CARICOM/CSME to focus on the facilitation requirements of growth and not get bogged down in discussions that lead nowhere.

Indeed, within the traditional CARICOM countries disputes have already surfaced about the movement of labour, the CET and Rights of Establishment, and if we cannot agree on a common court how can we agree on the harmonisation of laws? The widening process should not proceed on the basis that bigger is better.

We have moved from CARIFTA, established in 1965, to CARICOM in 1978, and now to the CSME in 2006 without fully implementing the tenets of the early agreements. It is interesting to note that the island countries of the eastern Caribbean have come together to achieve and maintain a single currency, a common judicial system and even source jointly key pharmaceuticals. The lesson is clear - they have forged unity where it makes sense and they have chosen not to be bogged down by pronouncements of the CSME and grand declarations.

There are some critical fundamentals that were recognised from the time of the formation of the Federation that are still in need of implementation if the dream of the community is to be realised.

unimplemented fundamentals

On the economic side, some of the unimplemented fundamentals include the efficient movement of goods from country to country, both for goods originating in the region and for goods imported from outside the region. For trade to grow the timely and cost-effective movement of both dry and refrigerated cargo is absolutely necessary. Cost-effective shipping must be supported by reduced port fees and clear, published rules on, for example, acceptable quality, labelling and phyto-sanitary requirements.

The shipping lines of the Federation and the successor West Indies Shipping Co and private initiatives such as the Southern Shipping Co have all failed. National shipping companies are not as glamorous as their airline sisters and they have been allowed to disappear, reflecting perhaps the realities of the lack of volume of intra-regional trade.

CARICOM needs to have asked and answered the question of the viability of intra-regional shipping. If the answer is "yes, it is viable", then these findings must be thrust before governments and private sector alike so as to ensure that no stone is left unturned as we seek the creation of viable shipping links.

If the answer is "no, a line that concentrates just on intra-regional shipping is not viable", then the focus must turn to shipping lines that flow from North America and Europe to several destinations in the region to see if meaningful arrangements can be forged with one or more of these lines. The goal is to foster frequent and efficient shipping services and may very well require a mixture of national and international carriers lifting both refrigerated and dry cargo with shipping links that include the DR and Cuba.

Today, although the community concept still exists, the public focus is largely on the economic. Despite this, CARICOM has numerous councils and committees that cover virtually all aspects of social and cultural life in the region underpinned by Four Councils and numerous sub-councils.

There have been some notable successes, such as the Caribbean Examinations Council, but this is in reality a separate entity with its own leadership team. The work of these councils needs much more publicity and the councils themselves need regional authority. Consider the recent skirmish over patty exports from Jamaica to Trinidad. CARICOM has a special entity - Caribbean Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality - whose mandate is "the establishment and harmonisation of standards, thereby facilitating consumer and environmental protection and improved trade within the Community and with third states". This entity has no enforcing authority and, in any event, reports to a ministerial council (COTED).

agreements and protocols

Entities such as this should have real power independent of any ministerial council but based on legally binding agreements and protocols. Exporting and importing companies would be able to refer to these protocols, and if a dispute arises the appropriate technical committee could make a quick ruling based on the protocol. The appeal from the ruling should be to the courts and not, as now exists, to a council of ministers. Indeed, the notion that trade appeals should go to a council of ministers reflects the unwillingness of the politicians to understand that their prime job is to fashion laws and leave it to the technicians and the courts to see to their implementation.

Harmonisation of laws, rules and co-operation in the areas of health, crime fighting, phytosanitary criteria, education, etc, will, in the future, be the centrepiece and glue of the community far more than trade in goods and services.

The CXC model should be the rule and not the exception. The CXC, Caribbean Development Bank and the CRNM are to my mind examples of success. Reasonable men may disagree with some of what they do but they cannot be accused of failing to implement or of finishing tasks. Their leaders and their management had goals and authority and their success was measurable. Whether the entity is within the Secretariat or independent is not as important as the leaders and management being given real and relatively unfettered authority to carry out their mandate.

This is a natural segue for me into the vexed question of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). The CCJ is a reality. We borrowed US$100 million to remove its annual funding from the whims of governments and established rules that give the court clear independence, and yet most of CARICOM refuse to use the CCJ. The CCJ should be our premier Caribbean institution defining, through our constitutions, how we treat with each other in all areas of life so that justice is uniform and fair but with universal principles that nevertheless reflect the norms of our culture, and should not be afraid to tackle the issues raised by scientific advancement and the shrinking 'globalised world'.

Dr Marshall Hall is former CEO of Jamaica Producers Group. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.