INTEGRATION CALL

An official of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is pushing for the Caribbean to integrate.

Andrea Power, CDB’s Coordinator, Regional Cooperation and Integration, Technical Cooperation Division, is suggesting that if the region can get right, integration represents a unique
opportunity for the Caribbean to take advantage of international trade and insert itself into global value chains on its own terms and in a more sustainable way.

She made the point while delivering remarks during the opening of the 32nd Meeting of the Council of the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) at the Accra Beach Hotel.

“It is absolutely imperative that every effort is made to complete the single market in all its aspects. While we have expended significant effort to remove restrictions found in our laws, we must now aggressively pursue what I call market making reforms and regional public goods, that will make the regional market not only more accessible, but also make it more equitable and efficient,” she said.

With that in mind, Power said the CDB has been focused on facilitating the implementation of regional policies at the national levels. She noted that such has been the framework of the Bank’s productive relationship with CROSQ. She added that a robust quality infrastructure is a fundamental ingredient for the achievement of international competitiveness in the production of goods and services and in maximising opportunities that flow from international trade.

“The regional public goods approach adopted by the CROSQ membership is an innovative approach to the pooling of resources that sees member states providing complimentary services and systems. This has the potential to be game changing for the regional private sector especially for those countries that the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas defined as either less developed or disadvantaged,” she stated.

Noting that the Bank recognises the need to finance such, she said the Bank will continue to be a “visible and active partner” in the efforts. To that end, she said the Board of Directors of the Bank recently approved a grant of over US$700 000 to CROSQ to support the national adaptation of the Regional Quality Policy in at least five countries and to support the accreditation of two laboratories. She went on to say that as part of that, there will be an extensive public education programme, as they recognise the need to encourage the private sector to utilise the quality services and to understand the important role that quality infrastructure plays in them achieving competitiveness. (JRT)