CARICOM Chair says common market will promote regional integration, economic growth

Oct 04, 2022 News

… urges Regional Partners to get on board

Kaieteur News – One of the key principles of establishing the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) was and still is, to achieve regional integration, and economic growth, within the region.

“The ways in which businesses are conducted shall significantly impact the achievement of sustainable development and growth,” Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), President Chandrikapersad Santokhi of Suriname has said. Santokhi was at the time making remarks during the launch of CARICOM’s Interactive Market Place Suspension Procedure (CIMSUPRO), last week. The body had said previously in a Press Release that it was providing a platform for regional producers and persons interested in purchasing goods and services within the region. It said that it was providing “a major regional platform to facilitate intra-regional trade in goods and agricultural products.”

CARICOM Chairman, Surinamese President Chandrikapersad Santokhi

Santokhi said that the Region faces many challenges resulting from global developments, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the recovery from that. To be better equipped to face all challenges, “we must first work on strengthening our communities’ capacities and support each other.” Hence, the CARICOM CIMSUPRO portal is the tool to achieve the region’s goals as it provides a platform where entrepreneurs from CARICOM, can offer their products, from raw materials to finished products.

The Chairman said that abiding by the principles set out by the CSME and full implementation, shall pave the way for sustainable growth and establish reliability for our business community. “As Chair of CARICOM, I also wish to emphasize the need for our business society to use the CARICOM common market,” Santokhi said. “After all, the initial intention of the grouping of countries, now known as CARICOM, was to promote economic integration and cooperation, among its members. As the oldest surviving integration movement in the developing world, CARICOM has the duty to set forth its goals and be a model for regional integration.”

Santokhi continued that trade and economic development shall only be achieved through private-public partnerships since it is the private sector that trades and does business. “Therefore, I’m more than delighted with the establishment of CIMSUPRO. With the aim of developing a CARICOM Industrial Policy, we are now focusing on that direction by establishing and using this platform.” He said that the extension of the regional integration, which has been sought since the start of CARICOM, can now be reached just by visiting the website to seek the necessary inputs from the CARICOM marketplace.

He said that CIMSUPRO provides a strategic aim towards improving the efficiency of our regional suspension mechanism, which is directly aimed towards encouraging production. “More so, it seeks to develop our Industrial Policy,” he noted.

Santokhi highlighted that the “Long waiting periods for suspension, granted by the CARICOM Secretariat, and the uncertainty of not knowing at which stage your suspension request is, are things of the past. With this platform, we have given the first step towards further expanding our Industrial Policy strategies.” “As mentioned, the region faces many challenges, such as the need to enhance productivity and sustainable growth, which in turn, requires the ability to transform our economic base.” The CARICOM Chair called on all member states “to populate the CARICOM Interactive Market Place Suspension Procedure (CIMSUPRO”.

Regional leaders had pledged earlier this year to create a pact for the benefit of the Caribbean bloc, and towards its quest to achieve regional food security. They also engaged in energised conversations to allow opportunities that promote food security. The Caribbean Bloc embarked on the food security programme after Heads of State said that they were unable to purchase food from foreign markets during the Covid pandemic. They said even with money in hand, they were able to satisfy their country’s needs. Regional nations have thus embarked on reducing the regional food importation bill by 25 percent by the year 2025.