Globalisation And The CSMEA 1

DRAFT

GLOBALISATION, TRADE LIBERALISATION AND THE CSME

Patrick Kendall
Economist
Economics Department, CDB
January 2008

“The people of the Caribbean today face a set of challenges of a complexity and magnitude that are unprecedented in the history of the Caribbean and which demand from us as governments and people the most carefully thought out, timely and effective responses. It concerns the workings of globalisation and our response to them.”1
“All of these forces and tendencies taken together ……… will require that we conceive of and build in a very short space of time, a virtual new economic system, featuring enterprises that can hold their market position without any special preference or coddling and that can adapt to rapidly changing market and technological convulsions.”2
“We have as a country supported and actively participated in promoting deeper
Caribbean regional integration as one of the strategic responses to the threats of the processes of globalisation and trade liberalisation, and the CARICOM Single Market and
Economy (CSME) is the centrepiece of this strategy today.”3

Introduction
In July 1989, the political leaders of the Caribbean Community decided to move the Caribbean economic integration process forward from a common market to a single market and economy. The rationale given was that it was the appropriate regional response to the severe economic challenges posed by trade liberalisation and globalisation. Essentially the political leadership views the Caribbean Single Market and
Economy (CSME) as pushing the Region towards greater economic competitiveness in response to the new international economic order dominated by marketisation and the loss of preferences. In 2006, after a period of seventeen years, the CSME was established.4 The questions however remain: (i) In relation to trade liberalisation and globalisation, how appropriate/strong a policy response is this for the Region? If need be, how can the response be strengthened?
The

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