By José Gabriel Martínez and Raúl Menchaca
PORT OF SPAIN, July 5 (Xinhua) — The Caribbean Community (Caricom) celebrated its half-century of existence this week in Trinidad and Tobago with the 45th meeting of the Union’s leaders, who agree on the need and importance the integration achieved was to be deepened in order to jointly master complex common challenges.
During the high-level meeting that began on July 3 and ended this Wednesday in the Trinidadian capital, Caricom leaders highlighted the group’s significant advances in its first 50 years, including the consolidation of a system of functional institutions for regional integration and economic Cooperation in the Caribbean.
They also reflected on how much more the Community can do to add to what has been achieved and to promote the development of the countries that make it up.
CARICOM was formed on July 4, 1973 when Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago signed the Treaty of Chaguaramas. Since then, another 11 countries have joined the Mechanism as Member States and five as Associate Members.
The group aims to promote economic cooperation and sustainable development in the Caribbean, as well as political and social integration through institutions and agreements that promote the free movement of goods, services and people.
Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, President of Caricom, made the case at all times during the recent Heads of State Meeting to resume free movement of citizens in the region to encourage the growth and expansion of the region’s economy.
In this sense, one of the main agreements of the meeting was to authorize the free movement of people in the majority of the member countries of the regional group.
“We made the decision to ensure the free movement of all categories of people to live and work. We believe this is a fundamental part of the integration architecture,” Skerrit said at a press conference following the conclusion of the meeting.
The Caricom President also stressed the importance of addressing the challenges preventing air and maritime transport in the Caribbean from becoming more efficient and affordable in order to facilitate the movement of people and goods, “the backbone of a successful integration agreement”. .
Progress in the free movement of goods, services and people and the adoption of recognized standards regulating economic transactions in the region are among the most important achievements of the longest-standing integration mechanism in developing countries.
According to economist Antonio Romero, President of the “Norman Girvan” Chair in Caribbean Studies at the University of Havana, such achievements show that CARICOM is more advanced than other integration processes in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Romero, in an interview with Xinhua, stressed that working cooperation among CARICOM member countries is crucial to addressing the asymmetries and vulnerabilities of the small island nations of the Caribbean.
International analyst Adalberto Santana, researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), believes that the “admirable quest” by members of the Caribbean community for regional integration is worth noting, despite cultural, social, political and contemporary conditions in the region .
In statements to Telesur TV channel, Santana emphasized the strategic value of the Caribbean island due to its geographical location, its cultural diversity and its importance as a financial center, explaining that fully exploiting this value can make a major contribution to the integration proposed by Caricom.
However, he noted that pressure from the major Western powers had hampered the territorial integration of the Caribbean, and to counteract this the diversification of its external relations had been a success for the bloc.
Despite the achievements, Caricom faces challenges such as food security, climate change and the multidimensional crisis Haiti is currently going through on its journey towards more effective integration and development of its member countries.
In this context, the Heads of State and Government meeting reaffirmed the regional commitment to joint efforts in Haiti to achieve tangible results that will help resolve the situation of insecurity and violence in the country.
International fora are also calling for greater global commitment to combating climate change and funding to combat its effects, to which Caribbean countries are extremely vulnerable.
In the face of challenges, Caribbean leaders in Trinidad and Tobago showed that Caricom stands firm in its goal of strengthening integration and building a more prosperous and sustainable Caribbean in the future, while living up to its 50th anniversary mantra: “50 years strong, solid.” Foundation to build on.