CARICOM-Girvan “disappointed’ at outcome of CARICOM retreat

TUESDAY, 24 MAY 2011 01:57 CMC

UWI PROFESSOR EMERITUS, NORMAN GIRVAN
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – A prominent University of the West Indies (UWI) academic Monday said he was “deeply disappointed” at the outcome of the two-day retreat of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders in Guyana over the weekend.
“I am not seeing any concrete or meaningful decisions to address the deep seated problems of governance and implementation that presently afflict the community and which are at the root of the so-call information deficit,” UWI Professor Emeritus, Norman Girvan told the Caribbean media Corporation (CMC).

“I am just seeing another statement of good intention and if I might say so platitudes that the people of the region have quite frankly become tired and cynical about, said Girvan, a former professorial research fellow at the UWI Graduate Institute of International Relations.

A statement issued at the end of the retreat, which was attended by 10 of the 15 CARICOM) leaders, indicated that the process towards a single economy within the 15-member grouping that would have gone into effect by 2015, will now “take longer than anticipated”.

In addition, the leaders also “recognised that while the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) provided a platform for attaining further economic development of the Community, its ultimate goal was to provide a better quality of life and greater prosperity for the Peoples of the Community.

In their statement, the regional leaders noted that with respect to governance, “they reaffirmed the decision taken at their Inter-Sessional Meeting in Grenada in February to await the completion of the current review of the CARICOM Secretariat, before taking any firm decisions towards the establishment of the Permanent Committee of CARICOM Ambassadors (PCCA).

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