CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC- The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission says it has commenced a series of country missions to member states aimed at increasing awareness among the public on the benefits of the Economic Union and the ongoing European Union-funded Regional Integration Through Growth Harmonisation and Technology (RIGHT) program.
The St. Lucia-based Commission said that stakeholder consultations have already been held in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Lucia.
It said the engagements would be finalized in January 2024 following discussions with senior officials from Montserrat.
The initiative also promotes national action that fully establishes the free movement of person regime, a core component of the Eastern Caribbean Economic Union (ECEU) established on June 18, 2010, under the Revised Treaty of Basseterre (RTB).
In May 2011, OECS leaders decided to grant OECS citizens and their qualifying family members within the ECEU several benefits associated with free movement of persons, namely, indefinite stay, hassle-free travel, mutual recognition of driver’s license, and no work permit requirements.
The Commission said that by so doing, the OECS leaders took a fundamental step toward proper regional integration in the OECS. These benefits and more are currently detailed in the OECS Policy on Rights Contingent on the Movement Within the Economic Union, which is the central component of the Free movement of person regime but has yet to be fully implemented by member states.
The Commission said that these country missions seek to accelerate the free movement of persons and the ECEU in general.
It said initiatives aimed at strengthening the regime include labor migration, social security benefits portability, access to education and healthcare, social development, intra-regional transportation, intra-regional trade, national border security, access to digital services, and consumer protection, which were all topics of discussion, with a broad cross-section of national stakeholders.
“These stakeholder engagements will help guide the national actions that can be moved immediately to deliver on these contingent rights benefits. This includes efforts to advance the Contingent Rights Model Bill and the development of administrative instruments to help make the free movement of the personal regime a more accessible reality for ECEU citizens,” said OECS Director General Dr. Didacus Jules.
The Commission said the recommendations will form part of a report reviewed by the OECS leaders in 2024 for further action.
It said several regional integration initiatives being advanced by the OECS Commission are being financed by the European Union’s 11th European Development Fund through the Regional Integration Through Growth Harmonisation and Technology (RIGHT) Programme.
Co-funders and international agency support include The World Bank, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
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