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Volume No. 1 Issue No. 83 - Wednesday June 21, 2006 |
OECS States Issue Ultimatum to CARICOM on Caribbean Single Market
 Thomson Fontaine
The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) says they are committed to the integration process, but will not enter the Caribbean Single market (CSM) blindly to their disadvantage.
As the OECS Heads of Government met in St. Kitts, incoming chairman and Prime Minister of Antigua, Baldwin Spencer questioned CARICOM�s willingness to go through with economic union. �Will it come tomorrow, next month, next year or two years from now, when we would have in good faith entered the CSM?
 Spencer continued, �I therefore challenge CARICOM to provide the shortest possible timeline - December 2006 - for the Development Fund and Agency to commence their work, failing which the agreement and promised fair distribution of the benefits of the CSM becomes null and void.
According to Spencer, the Development Fund must be the mechanism where countries, regions and sectors can work to address difficulties as a result of the operationalization of the CSME. He called further for unambiguous rules governing the disbursement of resources and for the Development Agency to be established and located in his country.
In hinting at a possible conflict between the OECS grouping and the rest of CARICOM, Spencer noted that his organization was firmly opposed to attempts to minimize its importance to the survival of the sub-region. At issue is the revised land holding treaty, which governs the sale and control of land in the Region. He said that land within the OECS is limited and therefore precious. In his view, given the disparity of resources within CARICOM, the OECS region should be allowed to restrict the sale of land, which is at odds with the treaty.
Spencer also went on to say that the OECS will require greater attention and focus to allow it to compete in the CSM.
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