CSME success hinges on full youth participation – Irwin LaRocque

Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, Caricom Assistant Secretary General with responsibility for trade and economic integration, on June 17 underscored that Caricom youth have a critical role to play in the success of the regional integration movement.

Speaking in Antigua and Barbuda at a conference to mark the end of a two-year project designed to familiarise students with opportunities which reside in the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), Ambassador LaRocque said that the region’s flagship programme could not be successful without the “full participation” of youth, particularly given that research had shown that young people under 30 represented 63 per cent of the region’s population.

The forum, titled “Conference of Students Engaging the CSME Through Field Promotion”, closed the curtain on a project which saw 283 students travelling to various Caricom countries to obtain first-hand experience of opportunities which the CSME presents. Ambassador La Rocque noted that the project was necessary because the CSME was “widely unknown, misunderstood and under-appreciated among youth, according to research done by the Caricom Commission on Youth Development (CCYD)”.

In this context, he said, the Caricom Secretariat was “committed to undertaking a series of initiatives aimed at empowering and positioning young people to take advantage of, and contribute to, regional integration and the CSME.” Contrary to perceptions that the CMSE was put on hold, the ambassador said, “CSME is alive and functioning, although its implementation has not been at a pace some would have hoped to see.” He told the participants that the work done over the past two years was pertinent in consolidating gains achieved thus far. “Your views will be key in determining how we proceed with the further development of the single market and economy,” he said.

Against the backdrop of findings by the CCYD contained in the report, “Eye on the Future: Invest in YOUTH NOW for the Community Tomorrow”, is the view that most youth prefer to leave the region in search of career opportunities and a better life. Ambassador LaRocque said the exercise was vital in identifying what career opportunities existed within the CSME, giving expression to the Declaration of Paramaribo on the future of youth in the Caribbean community.

A significant outcome of the project will be a publication detailing the experiences of the students during the field study of the CSME.