Regional private sector organisations should take advantage of the free movement of factors of production that the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) allows in order to achieve production efficiency and competitiveness.

This was the view of Adviser, Directorate for Trade and Economic Integration of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, Ms. Desiree Field-Ridley.

In an interview that focussed on maximising opportunities within the CSME, she pointed out that the CSME was intended to provide “access to total Region’s resources rather than just access to a country’s resource”.

“The intention is that it would enable producers to be more competitive because you now have a larger market not only for skills, but also for sourcing inputs for raw materials and intermediate goods,” she added.

Guyana, in particular, she noted, had the potential to be “a vital source of supply” in CARICOM, owing to its resource-rich characteristics. That potential is yet not fully tapped, she added.

“Guyana has its own abundant resources; it is a regional position that it has been not fully exploited, not only for its own benefit, but for the benefit of the entire Region.

“We just have to be able to exploit that potential. We know that there have been initiatives to attract the rest of the Region. Perhaps one needs now to look at what is needed to complement those offers and make them more attractive,” she reasoned.