Caricom officials want speedy integration

May 31, 2011 News

Caricom officials have once again encountered calls to increase the pace of regional integration by hastening their decision-making on projects that form the building blocks towards a Caribbean Single Market and Economy.
The call came from Caricom lead Minister on Information Technology and Prime Minister of Grenada, Tillman Thomas; Barbados’s Minister of Commerce and Trade, Haynesley Benn; and Assistant Secretary General for Trade and Economic Integration, Irwin LaRocque, as they addressed what should have been the opening of the 36th special meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), held in Grenada last Friday.
The one-day meeting was reduced to an informal gathering after only four of the 15 Caricom Ministers who are members of COTED turned up for the conference, leaving it without the required eight delegates to make a quorum.
The planned meeting of regional ministers followed a two-day gathering of officials with responsibility for information and communication technology three days earlier in Grenada to tackle a comprehensive agenda in preparation for the ministerial meeting on Friday.
The two Caricom Cabinet members and the official from the secretariat were the scheduled opening speakers for the meeting.
Prime Minister Thomas said, “Our countries are yet to embrace ICT as a development tool that should be integrated into our culture and psyche. It is my hope therefore that this forum , which was being pursued for over a two-year period, will take the first steps in adopting a strategy that will be used to conquer this frontier.”
He added, “Too few of our households have access to the Internet. I implore all of us to drive this thing forward.”
Barbados Minister Benn referred to a February Inter-sessional heads of government meeting, also in Grenada, where there were several key references to ICT. “Our heads have obviously made the link between the strategic use and application of ICT and the successful completion of our Caricom Single Market and Economy.
“When we complete our work at the end of the day, we must all be satisfied that we have done our best in aiding our heads of government by providing the guidance they requested,” he said.
Restating the importance with which Caricom heads of governments place on a regional embrace of information technology, Mr LaRocque said, “Heads of government have consistently over the last few years underscored the importance of ICT to the development of the region; the most recent announcement being this past weekend during their retreat in Guyana where they once again singled out ICT as an area for regional attention – both as an industry in its own right as well as an enabler of development.”

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Caricom officials want speedy integration

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