Senator Franklyn Satisfied with Progress of CSM

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Delano Franklyn, has expressed satisfaction with the progress made since the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market (CSM) last year.
Speaking with JIS News, Senator Franklyn said that, “as a region, we have made significant strides although a year in the life of an integration process is a relatively short period. We were able to get 12 of the 15 CARICOM countries to come on board as it relates to the Single Market and I am confident that we will be able to achieve the Single Economy [by 2008]”.
Citing the success of the free movement of persons provision, Senator Franklyn reported that more persons were moving within the Caribbean than before and a number of countries have implemented a designated line for CARICOM nationals at their ports of entry.
In addition, he said, the categories of persons, who were able to move freely, have been expanded. He noted however that the process was being undertaken incrementally, based on the fact that the economies in the Caribbean were varied, therefore the absorption rate was different in each of the countries.
“We decided that we would look at each category and put in place what would be required to enable persons from that category to move. Initially, we started off with five, however it has now expanded to seven with the inclusion of nurses and teachers with a university degree or a tertiary qualification,” Senator Franklyn said. Also included in the category of persons, who can move freely are university graduates, artistes, media workers, musicians, and sports persons.
“Businesses have also been exploring the possibilities of engaging themselves in other countries and hence have been taking advantage of our single market,” Senator Franklyn informed.
Commenting on the implementation of the single domestic space that came into effect on February 1 of this year, as the region prepared to host the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, Senator Franklyn said that this should be seen as a platform on which CARICOM could develop this single space to facilitate greater freedom of movement within the region.
The single domestic space was established to significantly expedite the movement of persons within the region during the international cricket tournament and will remain in effect until May 15.