Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
WITH THE passing of the necessary Bills recently, in Parliament that will bring into force the Caribbean Court of Justice and is essential for the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), Jamaica has just less than one year to prepare itself for CSME, which will come on stream in 2005.
According to Senator Delano Franklyn, State Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, "the CSME will allow for the unrestricted movement of goods, services, people and capital throughout the Region, resulting in a single market, leading ultimately to a single economy".
The question though is how prepared is Jamaica for the positives and negative impacts that CSME will offer? The Gleaner spoke with Jennifer Walker, director of Quality Assurance at the National Council of Technical Vocational Education (NCTVET) to see how prepared is Jamaica in terms of certification.
"We are not as prepared as we ought to be and that is why we are spreading the word. We should be more prepared, if we are going to take the bull by the horns," she said.
"A lot of persons are operating in an industry, but are doing so by word of mouth, but there is nothing to show for their skills," she added.
Stressing the importance of certification, she said even for a person with skills such as masonry, it was necessary to get certified. She also explained that certification allows one to move from one country to another and easily get a job.
She warned, "if we are not prepared, the very good jobs will be taken by persons who are more skilled. We want to prepare our people so that they can move from one country to the other."
CERTIFIED
Meanwhile, the Director of Quality Assurance said that the NCTVET was playing its part in preparing Jamaica with having certified some 60,000 persons within the past 10 years in more than 30 skilled areas.
These areas include the hospitality industry, agricultural, building construction, among other areas. She informed that the projection is to have 100,000 persons certified within the next two to three years. In rating Jamaica's readiness for CSME, she said that Jamaica was stronger in the hospitality area but more work needed to be done in other areas.
CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington says one aim of the CSME will be to create a single economic space within which artists can continue to express and strengthen the region's unique culture.
"It is that emancipation that we are working towards in the creation of a CSME as we work for the removal of historical/ colonial shackles and for the dawn of economic and social freedom," Carrington said.
According to Senator Franklyn, "the CSME presents Jamaica with the opportunity to pool our collective resources to concentrate on selected areas of economic activity that can bring tangible benefits to us here in Jamaica and the region as a whole".
Some of these areas, he said that can be explored included: Tourism, including ownership in the cruise ship business; Manufacturing, targeted at the tourism sector; Financial services which provide innovative services for our region; Music and entertainment, including the management services associated with their activities; Food and agriculture designed to produce identifiable Caribbean products.
