Latest update March 24th, 2025 7:05 AM
Golding calls for establishment of political structure for CARICOM
…says intra-regional red tape must be aggressively addressed
Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding
By Gary Eleazar
Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, yesterday told media operatives at the Guyana Conference Centre that a formal political structure needs to be established if the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) forum could have any authority to effect any specific changes in an individual country.
He said that CARICOM cannot acquire political authority in the absence of a political structure.
“We must stop tiptoeing around the mulberry bush. If you want CARICOM to be an authority which can override the Parliaments and the Cabinets of individual member states, then you must create a political union and identify the countries that are prepared to go in that direction.”
He noted that if the region was not heading in that direction then the challenge is to find a mechanism that works.
He was speaking about the implementing lag of several commitments by CARICOM leaders who have agreed to several initiatives but fail to implement them.
What he posited as a void, is that the ultimate authority was vested in the leaders that give a commitment and having taken that obligation, must return to their countries and persuade their respective Cabinets and Parliaments.
He pointed out that at present the CARICOM heads meet every six months and no organisation can exist on the basis of that authority only twice a year for two or three days at a time. “You need something that is more permanent, more lasting.”
Meanwhile, Golding was adamant that another issue that needed to be aggressively dealt with is the hurdles surrounding intra regional trade.
He said that exporting goods, whether from Jamaica to Trinidad or from Barbados to Antigua, must be no different than exporting goods within the borders of a country.
We must be able to ship goods around the region in the same ways you ship around you own country. That is what a single market is.”
Golding also drew reference to the fact that several years ago CARICOM Heads had committed to establishing sanitary and phytosanitary standards that would be common to all countries.
“We haven’t done that and we need to get cracking on that.”
He said that another issue that needs to be dealt with urgently is, “How are we going to deal with the question of certification?”
He noted that the World Trade Organisation rules a country reserves the right to do risk assessment of imports into its country, but said that CARICOM is a single market and therefore an establishment of a frame work of standard organisation should be implemented, hence standards could be accepted by all.
Golding posited that it must be a case where, “Jamaica will be prepared to accept the standard of Trinidad and vice versa, rather than Jamaica to say that before we can accept the goods we have to go there and inspect their processing facilities and they have to come to Jamaica to inspect ours.”
Golding pointed out a situation which according to him was absurd, was the fact that that the European Union has accepted Jamaica’s standards and no longer need to inspect its facilities, given that the validation provided by Jamaica’s bureau of standards and our veterinary services is accepted.
“Yet our own CARICOM partners don’t accept the certification so there is a lot of work out there to be done.”
He pointed out, too, that such a situation will have adverse effects in the future in that the exporters would get tired of the frustration and will not seek to build markets within the region.
He gave the experience in his own countries telling reporters, “I have Jamaican exporters who have said that we can’t bother with CARICOM because it’s too much headache so we are looking to North America or Brazil or Colombia.”
He pointed out that the exporters were prepared to pay duties in other markets, rather than take on the burden to try to get through the difficulties in CARICOM.
“ Its not something that could be achieved through contention and quarrel, lets sit down as responsible leaders and say where we need to straighten up, where is it that we had given commitment that we have not honoured, what has caused the problem, and how can we get through it.”
Golding is currently in Guyana participating in the 30th Heads of Government meeting.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Development for whom?
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The Vice President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, has declared with great confidence that there... more
The Caribbean: Destined to Grin and Bear the Consequences of Its Self-Created Vulnerabilities?
By Sir Ronald Sanders For decades, many Caribbean nations have grappled with dependence on a small number of powerful countries... more
Weekend Cartoon
