CARICOM SINGLE MARKET AND ECONOMY

The CARICOM Single Market and Economy, also known as the Caribbean Single Market and
Economy (CSME), is an integrated development strategy envisioned at the 10th Meeting of the
Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) which took
place in July 1989 in Grand Anse, Grenada. The Grand Anse Declaration[1] had three key
Features:
Deepening economic integration by advancing beyond a common market towards a Single
Market and Economy.
Widening the membership and thereby expanding the economic mass of the Caribbean
Community (e.g. Suriname and Haiti were admitted as full members in 1995 and 2002
respectively).
Progressive insertion of the region into the global trading and economic system by
strengthening trading links with non-traditional partners.
A precursor to CARICOM and its CSME was the Caribbean Free Trade Agreement, formed in
1965 and dissolved in 1973.
1989
Overview of CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME)
The decision, in 1989, to establish the CSME was a move to deepen the integration movement
to better respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by globalisation.
The main objectives of the CSME are: full use of labour; full exploitation of the other factors of
production; competitive production leading to greater variety; quality and quantity of goods and
services, thereby providing greater capacity to trade with other countries.
The CSME is comprised of 12 member states, including Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados,
Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
Our CARICOM has chalked up impressive achievements in its four pillars of integration:
functional cooperation, coordination of foreign policy, security collaboration, and economic
integration, including Single Market trading arrangements.Jul 3, 2020