Drawing Examples from Two or More Caricom Institutions, Discuss the View That ‘Political Disagreements Among Member Countries Overshadow Caricom’s Contribution to Caribbean Development’
Before there was the Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM), there was the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA). CARIFTA was intended to encourage balanced development of the region by increasing, diversifying and liberating trade, also ensuring fair CARIFTA was limited as the free trade area was not enough to garner the desired economic efficiency. According to Bernal (2007) “... it did not provide for free movement of labour and capital, or for the coordination of agricultural, industrial and foreign policies.”
The internal pressures on CARIFTA to fortify the existing areas of cooperation and to expand into new areas created the need for a deeper process of regional cooperation. These pressures brought with them the need to establish new and more appropriate structures to strengthen our integration. At their meeting in Chagaramus in November 1972, Heads of Government therefore took the fundamental decision to do this by creating the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM Secretariat 2005 p. 41). CARICOM was established in 1973 on the basis of a treaty. This treaty was dubbed the Treaty of Chaguramus. In 1989, as a result of the need for a single economic space to facilitate regional trade, production and investment within CARICOM, the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) was born. Bernal (2007) states that “The CSME was born out of substantive amendments to the Treaty of Chaguaramas … [and] provides a strengthened institutional framework to support and facilitate the enhanced program of regional economic integration and functional co-operation, … The revised treat also removes barriers to the cross-border movement and establishment of businesses, thus promoting investment and the intra-regional movement of goods, services, and capital.”
The International Oxford dictionary states that, the word overshadow means ‘to appear much more prominent or important than.’ To say that political disagreements between member countries have
The internal pressures on CARIFTA to fortify the existing areas of cooperation and to expand into new areas created the need for a deeper process of regional cooperation. These pressures brought with them the need to establish new and more appropriate structures to strengthen our integration. At their meeting in Chagaramus in November 1972, Heads of Government therefore took the fundamental decision to do this by creating the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM Secretariat 2005 p. 41). CARICOM was established in 1973 on the basis of a treaty. This treaty was dubbed the Treaty of Chaguramus. In 1989, as a result of the need for a single economic space to facilitate regional trade, production and investment within CARICOM, the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) was born. Bernal (2007) states that “The CSME was born out of substantive amendments to the Treaty of Chaguaramas … [and] provides a strengthened institutional framework to support and facilitate the enhanced program of regional economic integration and functional co-operation, … The revised treat also removes barriers to the cross-border movement and establishment of businesses, thus promoting investment and the intra-regional movement of goods, services, and capital.”
The International Oxford dictionary states that, the word overshadow means ‘to appear much more prominent or important than.’ To say that political disagreements between member countries have
References: Bernal, R. L. (2007, May). Caricom Single Market and Economy Charts Destiny. Americas, 59(3), 46-52. Caricom Secretariat. (2005). Caricom: Our Caribbean Community An Introduction (pp. 41-50). Caribbean Community Secretariat. (n.d.). The Caribbean Community. Retrieved April 13, 2011, from http://www.caricom.org