The Trinidad Guardian
PORT
SPAIN
Petroleumworld.com
02 19 06
COME 2008 all Caricom nationals will be able to travel and work
in member countries. This was revealed by the Foreign Minister
of Dominica Charles Savarin during a news conference at the
Hilton Trinidad yesterday.
This
was among the major decisions taken at the start of yesterday's
two-day Intercessional meeting of the Caricom Heads of Government.
At
present only certain categories of professionals-including journalists,
entertainers and doctors-are eligible to access this measure.
Savarin
said the recommendation that was brought to the meeting yesterday
was that "by 2006, this year, persons who hold associate
degrees and equivalent qualifications, persons with professional,
technical and vocational qualifications should be included as
new categories to be able to move freely across the region;
that in 2007 persons with CXC O-Level qualifications and equivalent
and also persons with technical and vocational qualifications
at that level should also be included and by 2008 all Caricom
nationals should be able to move freely across the Caricom region".
He
added that the meeting is also currently considering the need
to address areas where there are shortages of skills within
the region. He said those skills include "construction,
plumbing, electrical wiring and those skills with the building
boom that is taking place in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago
and other member states" and suggested that "we perhaps
should look at those specific skills and accelerate the inclusion
of those skills in the first new category of persons to be incorporated
in this free movement across the region".
Also
speaking at the news conference was Prime Minister of Barbados
Owen Arthur who, in response to a question, denied a claim that
the ordinary man in the street in the Caribbean was not included
in consultations on the Caribbean Single Market and Economy
(CSME).
"We
are politicians and politicians know better than journalists
that you can't do anything unless you carry the people with
you," he said.
He
then slammed critics for speaking about the CSME without knowing
the details about it. "A large part of the problem in this
matter is that there are too many indigenous strokes played
in the Caribbean, but the most prevalent indigenous stroke is
the tendency for people to speak as experts on things they have
never read about. I have found in the Caribbean a tendency for
people to pontificate about the CSME but they will not read
the treaty," Arthur added.
He
said that a public education programme had been mounted to reach
the man in the street.
The
Caribbean Single Market was established recently with six member
states implementing it. Arthur said that the Caribbean Single
Market would be established in 2008.
He
appealed to the Caribbean media to spread the message about
the CSME in the interest of the people of the region.
