Success of CSME will require collaboration between State and Private Sector says Minister Franklyn
Kingston, Jamaica – The success of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) will depend on adequate collaboration between the state and private sector on economic and social matters.
This is the word from State Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Delano Franklyn, in address at the National Commercial Bank (NCB)-sponsored symposium on: ‘The CSME and its implications for financial services delivery in Jamaica and the Caribbean.’ The symposium was held on November 7 at the NCB’s Atrium in New Kingston.
According to Senator Franklyn, “if there is insufficient state and private sector collaboration on economic matters such as industry standardization and regional transport, and social ones such as crime and violence, the CSME will not succeed. Likewise, uneven or unsynchronized implementation of CSME legislation and policies could impede the Single Market’s progress.”
It is this lack of synchronization of legislation and policies across member states, the State Minister said, that has stalled the implementation of the CSME.
Stating that more than “350 laws have to be implemented for the proper machinery of the CSME”, he noted that for example, “the Jamaican Companies Act has to be in sync with the Barbados Companies Act, so too the Trinidad and Tobago Act and so on. Even now, the Bureau of Standards of each CARICOM member state is having difficulty in ensuring that standards are harmonized.”
According to the Senator, the process of harmonization would ensure efficiency in the airline industry and the financial services sector, which he said, was one of the top three CARICOM income earners, behind tourism and information technology. In addition, it would provide persons with greater avenues for employment, as under the CSME, it would be a legal requirement to advertise job vacancies region-wide.
Turning to the area of crime and violence, Senator Franklyn noted that the problem was a region-wide one and would require collaboration among member states. “It is a regional and international problem that poses challenges to the CSME since it deters investment,” he pointed out.
Presently, only three of 15 CARICOM member states are ready to meet the January 2006 deadline for full implementation of the Single Market aspect of the CSME.
The three are Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica, which along with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), have already established a regional stock market for stock exchanges, cross listing and trading. The State Minister noted that although the tag ‘CSME’ is often used in reference to the Single Market, the Single Economy aspect is not scheduled to come on stream until 2008.
