Grenada PM calls for Caricom free movement

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, Guardian - Grenada Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell is calling for the removal of aliens’ landholding requirements for Caricom nationals. Mitchell made the appeal during his address at Wednesday’s opening of the 34th Caricom Heads of Government Meeting at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s. He said it would be a significant first step towards the free movement of people and capital in the region. Mitchell said the most urgent issue which should be addressed at the meeting, which ends on Sunday, is transportation within the region, and without a proper transportation system the dream of economic union will continue to be elusive. It is easier and cheaper for a Caribbean citizen to travel to Miami and New York, Toronto and London than to get from Port-of Spain to Castries, he said. He said manufacturing products in T&T are not able to reach another Caricom state in a timely manner and remain at competitive rates. Mitchell said the meeting should set up “a broader task force on transportation to deliver results in six months.” Mitchell said Caricom heads should be on that task force, which would include businessmen, trade union representatives and other stakeholders. He said the issue of taxation on travel and tickets should also be addressed. In many instances, he said, the taxes were higher than the basic price of the ticket itself. Mitchell also suggested that greater emphasis be placed on developing the region’s information and communication technology (ICT). Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, chairman of Caricom, said it is time for the regional body to consider expanding its membership and include the Dominican Republic in the Caricom family, along with the Dutch and French Caribbean islands. She also called for the setting up a regional think-tank on security, with a special mandate to examine the multiple security threats facing the region. “Such an approach would also identify ways of improving co-operation between governments and law-enforcement agencies in countering illicit activity in our hemisphere,” she said. “We must also attack crime at the root, which means we must develop approaches to combat poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and the rising cost of living.”