Former Antigua Prime Minister Lester Bird.
ST. JOHN'S, Antigua (CMC):
THE OPPOSITION Antigua Labour Party (ALP) has given strong backing to the country's participation in the CARICOM Single Market (CSM), which became a reality earlier this year.
Former Prime Minister and leader of the party Lester Bird said the ALP was fully committed to the regional project, which will link CARICOM states in a borderless economic space, allowing for the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour.
"I must remind you that the Antigua Labour Party has always been in the forefront of Caribbean integration as an instrument for the
advancement of the people of Antigua and Barbuda and the Caribbean," he said in a statement on Friday.
He also sought to explain the recent action of ALP-appointed senators who voted against legislation designed to implement aspects of the CSM.
"In defence of the position taken by these senators, the Antigua Labour Party as a group had not discussed the legislation or taken a party position on it. In the absence of a party directive, the senators in question voted as they personally viewed the bill before them.
"The Antigua Labour Party has since discussed the CSM at a meeting of its executive, and concluded that, as a party we support the creation of the CSM and Antigua and Barbuda's membership of it."
PROVISION CONCERNS
Bird, however, said he was concerned about provisions of the legislation, which seek to apply different treatment to nationals and CARICOM non-nationals.
"We agree that nationals and national entities of other CARICOM countries should have rights as our own nationals and national entities within Antigua and Barbuda," he said.
Bird's endorsement of the single market follows Friday's agreement by the region's finance ministers on the terms of a Regional Development Fund, which will cushion smaller territories when the CSM is fully implemented.
In January Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago signed on to the single market. However, the smaller territories, especially those in the nine-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), held out, insisting on the creation of the regional fund.
With the fund now in place, the final hurdle has now been cleared for the OECS states to sign onto the pact by next month.
