A fixed single CARICOM roaming rate for all CARICOM nationals – CARICOM Chair

Community governance, a fixed single CARICOM roaming rate and a unified
regional approach were among the key highlights of Chair of the Conference of
Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Hon. Mia Amor
Mottley, when she addressed the opening of the Thirty-First Inter-Sessional
Meeting of the Conference in Barbados, earlier on 18 February 2020.

On the issue of community governance, the Chair noted
that “some self-examination” was in
order. Her references included the under-resourced CARICOM Secretariat which
she said   was now functioning with 30
million Eastern Caribbean dollars less than it did 10 years ago and with 40
people less than it did 30 years ago”, despite increasing challenges and new
mandates.

She questioned whether
the “appropriate governance and funding models to ensure the sustainability of
this `family movement’ that is so vital to our being able to bring prosperity
to our citizens”, was in place.

She suggested a review
of the 2003 Rose Hall Declaration and the entire issue of community governance
with a view to finding   a modality that
would allow for more effective implementation of Heads decisions, particularly
those related to the CARICOM Single Market and Single Economy.

Speaking on matters of
the digital economy, the Chair reiterated the Community’s belief in this sector’s
“powerful role in the development of our economies”. She used this opportunity
to make a very well received (given audience reaction) announcement of   ongoing work to provide a “a modest fixed
single CARICOM roaming rate for all CARICOM nationals”, which she informed will
be announced shortly.

“Our teams have
been working with operators in the telecommunications sector across the Region
and indeed, Prime Minister Mitchell, who is the lead prime minister in this
area, has, along with the CSME team, worked with the operators to shortly
announce a modest fixed single CARICOM roaming rate for all CARICOM nationals
to cover the cost of data for popular social media platforms including, those
that offer messaging and calls”, she said

“The rate will
include an amount of local and regional voice calls, and over time this CARICOM
rate will include more services. This is what it means to be family taking
decisions”, she explained.

On the last issue of
“family”, the Chair, throughout our presentation, reiterated the importance of
a unified approach despite ideology, to surmount the ever present and changing
global challenges before the Region.