CONTACT Magazine (Vol.19 No. 2 – June 2019)

CSME: Are we getting it right?
Caricom and CSME member states, 2019
All 15 countries below are Caricom member states. These are the 12 full CSME member states: 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.
Montserrat requires entrustment (approval) from the UK. Haiti is a partial CSME participant, with full integration carded for 2020.
The Bahamas is not a participant.
Key facts on CSME:
What is the CSME?
The CSME is a single large economic
space, created through the removal
of restrictions and resulting in the free
movement of:
• Goods
• Services
• Labour/Skills
• Capital
• Technology
6 million
MARKET
SIZE (Current)
+11 million
With Haiti in 2020
Key elements of CSME are:
1. Provision for the free movement
of goods, services and people
2. Provision for the free movement
of capital: through convertibility
of currencies (or a common currency)
and an integrated capital
market, such as a regional stock
exchange
3. A Common External Tariff and
free circulation of goods imported
from extra-regional sources
4. The establishment of a common
trade and economic policy
5. Right of establishment of
Caricom-owned businesses in any
member state without restrictions
6. Harmonisation of laws
Milestones
• The decision was taken in 1989
to establish the CSME in order to
deepen the integration movement.
• On 1 January, 2006, the Single
Market component of the CSME
came into being, initially involving
Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica,
Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Caricom passport:
• Heads of Government agreed to the
issuance of a Caricom passport by
member states as a defining symbol
of regionalism.
• All twelve independent member
states participating in the CSME
now issue the Caricom passport.
Source: Natalie Dookie, Editor, CONTACT
chamber.org.tt
JUNE 2019 11