Bahamians not ready for CSME

Minister in Parliament and Progressive Liberal Party Spokesman on Foreign Affairs Commonwealth, Fred Mitchell

By Tara J. Wilkinson

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, September 13, 2007 - The people of the Bahamas are not ready for the full implementation of the Caricom Single Market and Economy. Instead Minister in Parliament and Progressive Liberal Party Spokesman on Foreign Affairs Commonwealth, Fred Mitchell, at his feature address at Rotary West in Barbados reveals that the country opts for functional cooperation.

The CSME is an economic union similar to the European Union, created to strengthen the economic clout of the small Caribbean member nations. Its pillars include the free movement of capital, goods, services and people, common economic policy and a common currency.

Mitchell in his address voiced his concern on how Caribbean co-operation should advance and what shape it should take. He notes that functional cooperation within the Caribbean is the way forward. “Although the Bahamas is not apart of the Caricom Single Market and Economy in its full capacity for reasons peculiar to the country, there is plenty of scope for the Bahamas to participate within the Caricom context”, he explains.

Mitchell says, “Since the history of The Bahamas and our region is one of migration, it is therefore appropriate to strengthen the already existing ties between the region and ourselves through what we call today functional co-operation.  It seems very much the natural order of things.  The chairman of Caricom and the prime minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur, is leading the way in this regard.  This is a useful policy for The Bahamas, because it charts the way forward for the continued and formal engagement of The Bahamas with the region outside of the market and economy arrangements”.

Mitchell reiterates, “We have long been participants in the University of the West Indies, in the Council of Legal Education, in Caribbean Emergency Disaster Relief Agency, in many of the other Caricom bodies that look after the welfare of the Caribbean people.  These are all examples of functional co-operation.  We lend our expertise and your expertise is lent to us.  We share our common social and economic experiences and we face the world together as a unit”.