Caricom nationals including those from Dominica, look set to enjoy unrestricted travel throughout the CARICOM member states by the end of the month.
That announcement was made by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley during a news conference bringing this week’s four-day Caricom summit in Georgetown, Guyana, to an end. Mottley said leaders that the leaders had decided on Wednesday that they were on track to achieve the feat by “March 31, 2024.”
Currently, Caricom nationals are free to stay in participating nations for up to six months.
Prime Minister Mottley emphasised the leaders’ goal to remove this six-month constraint.
Efforts are also underway to address the issue of company formation, with plans to achieve mutual recognition of companies across the community by July.
A digital platform will be set up, allowing individuals to register companies seamlessly across Caricom nations.
Caricom Chairman, Guyana’s President Dr Irfaan Ali, last week underscored leaders’ commitment to implementing the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).
At present, when a Caricom national wishes to establish a company in another member state upon relocation, they are obligated to make a payment.
This, PM Mottley noted, is an unnecessary “burden”.
“We agreed that we would work to get the mutual recognition of companies across the community settled and we are working towards trying to have that done by our meeting in July in Grenada,” she said.
“To allow people the right to move and then tell them that they have to pay separate sums to form [a] company—the same company, doing the same business, in every one of the countries going in – is a burden too heavy for you to carry in a single market and a single economy,” PM Mottley added.