By Staff Writer
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, Jul 8, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders ended their three-day summit here on Tuesday night after discussing “several critical issues” but acknowledging also that the pace of their flagship initiative, the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), is too slow.
Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, the CARICOM chairman, told the end of the summit conference that “we addressed several critical issues of urgent regional priority and reaffirmed our commitment to deliver tangible results to people of the Community”.
The CSME allows for the free movement of goods, skills, labour, and services across the grouping, and Holness said, “We agreed that the pace and scope of implementation was too slow.
“We agreed that we will do everything in our powers to speed up implementation,” he said, adding “we are now moving from applying administratively, the protocol on enhanced cooperation which all member states have signed with now four countries, Barbados, Dominica, Belize and St. Vincent and the Grenadines reiterating their willingness to implement full free movement under the protocol starting October 1, 2025”.
Prime Minister Holness said he wanted to make “clear that Jamaica is committed to implementing full free movement by the treaty amendments, and we are also examining ways to speed up our implementation.
“The fact is that due to our legislative framework and other considerations, we have had to move with other considerations. However, we intend to speed up the implementation of full free movement,” he said, adding, “Jamaica is committed to this”.
He said within the framework of the existing skills regime, the regional leaders agreed to add aviation workers to the approved list of skilled categories that already includes university graduates, media workers, artists, musicians, sports personnel, non-graduate teachers, nurses, artisans, and persons with Associate Degrees.
Prime Minister Holness said that the summit also discussed “deepening and diversifying CARICOM’s bilateral trade relations with several traditional and non-traditional partners”.
The leaders also held talks with the Secretary General of the International Police, INTERPOL, Valdecy Urquiza, with Holness pointing out that a “secure CARICOM is a viable CARICOM’ and that the summit adopted the Montego Bay Declaration on Transnational Organised Crime and Gangs, underscoring our united stance against criminal networks.
Holness said in November this year, CARICOM leaders will travel to Brazil for the COP 30 Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, noting that ‘as small states we continue to have a vested interest in building climate resilience.
‘We approved our regional climate priorities and revised framework for building climate resilience 2025-2030, ensuring that the Caribbean speaks with one voice on climate financing and adaptation”
He said on the issue of food and nutrition security, this continues to be a key element on the CARICOM agenda “as we seek to reduce the region’s food import bill through the transformation of our agricultural sector”.
He said as had been agreed in February when the regional leaders met for their summit in Barbados, it was also agreed to extend the Vision 25 by 2025 initiative to 2030, and “we used this meeting to endorse the food security formulation and design plan and related mechanisms”.
Prime Minister Holness said regarding regional transportation, a key pillar of the CSME, there was agreement to establish a small committee including the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves and the Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley as well as the Guyana President Irfaan Ali to “review presentations and queries and report back to heads.
Holness said that the next six months of his chairmanship will be very active with several opportunities “for us to amplify on the world stage the issues we have discussed and have agreed upon in Montego Bay.
“Indeed we look forward to engaging our partners at the second CARICOM-Africa summit to be held in Ethiopia this September and at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly…and at COP 30 to be held in Brazil in November and the Summit of the Americas to be held in the Dominican Republic in December,” Holness added.
The Jamaican prime minister said that he is inspired by the discussions over the last three days and that he is confident “of what we will continue to achieve together.”
CMC/pr/ir/2025