Barbados and other CARICOM member states are accelerating plans for full freedom of movement in the Caribbean, with a definitive position on the matter to be taken by March next year.
CARICOM chairman, Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, said this was the key decision made by Heads during their 45th Regular Meeting, which ended yesterday in Trinidad and Tobago.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, who has lead responsibility for the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), said she and other leaders determined that the push for full freedom of movement may “guarantee a minimum level of rights” that may relate to pre-primary, primary, and secondary education, and primary and emergency health care.
Mottley also said that since The Bahamas and Montserrat were not part of the CSME, they would not be subject to freedom of movement of skills or freedom of movement of people, while Haiti “asked for a derogation from the freedom of movement agreement that we would have made among ourselves”. (SC)
