ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC—Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says he does not support the criteria for a selected category of persons to be allowed to move and work freely within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), insisting that such a privilege should be given to every Caribbean national.
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders will open their three-day summit in Barbados on Wednesday, and Skerrit, speaking at a news conference here, said that the issue of free movement under the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) will be an agenda item.
Under the CSME, which allows for the free movement of goods, skills, labor, and services across the region, only university graduates, artists, musicians, media workers, sportspeople, nurses, teachers, artisans, holders of associate degrees, and domestic workers benefit from the provision.
“At this conference of heads, we will discuss many issues, including free movement. As you know, I have been advancing the cause of the free movement of all people in CARICOM.
‘It should not be an elitist…it has to be about everybody. Integration has to be about everybody benefitting and participating in this project, so we are stuck on the issue of Contingent Rights, whether people are entitled to education and, if so, to what extent.”
Skerrit said the situation also extends to health care: “We hope we can make some progress in Barbados and get the whole free movement.
“I have clarified it to them because they now want to add pilots and flight attendants. I am not prepared to support this because it is convenient, and I think that if we are truly committed to the CARICOM project, which we are, then we should show it in a tangible way.
“The best way to show it is for people to move freely in the Caribbean, and this notion that people are going to flock into this country or another country, the evidence does not show that.”
Skerrit told reporters that none of the economies in the Caribbean “is as strong as it is, so people are going to flock to countries for opportunities.
‘We do not have enough people in the Caribbean, we do not have enough critical mass in any of these countries outside of Haiti with 11 or 13 million people, and so we need to be able to have the movement of people so that we all can benefit from the skills and talents and opportunities that exist within the Caribbean space.
‘Free movement is central to this,” Skerrit said, adding that “the thorny issue of the cost of living and the cost of goods and services to our citizens is on the agenda, and I am hoping we can spend some time on this.”
He said there is no “clear strategy that one can use,” given that the region is dealing with imported inflation and the prices “are in our countries.
He said the summit should provide for an exchange of ideas among the leaders to help countries “cushion” the impact of the increased cost of living.
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