Caricom Heads will meet this weekend to work out a new governance structure to guide the more than two decades old regional integration movement.
The meeting will take place at the BK Quarry in Mazaruni, Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), Guyana. The retreat was planned at the heads of government meeting earlier this year in Grenada and was agreed upon following a proposal by President Bharrat Jagdeo.
At his weekly post-Cabinet briefing, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon disclosed that the main item on the agenda would be refocusing and re-energizing integration within the Caribbean Community (Caricom). He went on to say that the leaders will be examining existing models of integration and the weaknesses of the current model used by Caricom. “The practice of integration in today’s community business economic reality and imperatives will also be discussed all with the focus of the agenda in mind.”
At the heads of government meeting in Grenada, it was decided that the retreat mainly will focus on changing the perceived mood of cynicism and doubt over the future of the region’s 38-year-old economic integration movement among Caricom citizens. Over the years, there have been issues plaguing progress within Caricom.
A draft document outlining the intentions of the retreat is said to have placed strong emphasis on a new governance system that would provide a legal basis for implementation of decisions within specific timeframes which all member governments must honour in a new spirit of “shared sovereignty.”
It is not clear whether the meeting will also address the appointment of a successor to Sir Edwin Carrington, who retired as Secretary General at the end of last year.
Prime Minister and Caricom Chairman Tillman Thomas had told the end of summit news conference back in March in Grenada: “It is a work in progress, there is a research committee and there is going to be an interview panel; it is going to be a transparent process and we all will know who is going to be the Caricom Secretary General.”
There are at least six candidates being considered for the position of top public servant in the region. “It is a process, Caricom is an institution (and) the institution is functioning,” Thomas had said, dismissing the notion that the Guyana-based Caricom Secretariat has been without a leader since Sir Edwin stepped down.
Bruce Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica had said at the same news conference that candidates had been identified.
Asked then whether the leaders would have an announcement to make on the new appointment by the time they gather in St Kitts in July for their annual summit, Golding replied, “one has to be careful you don’t pre-empt the outcome of those interviews. We just have to wait for that process to be completed.
Comments are closed.