CARICOM SET TO GROW

The 15-nation Caribbean Community, which has not accepted a new member in 22 years, seems set to grow as a family later this year with applications from several countries on the desk of leaders.

The Dominican Republic, whose membership overtures had twice been rejected by the bloc in recent decades because of its treatment of people in neighboring Haiti among other issues, is pushing hard for membership in its latest effort to sit at the table as a full member. Its latest foray seems to be red carpeted by Guyanese President Irfaan Ali who has developed very close relations with Santo Domingo in recent months.

French Overseas Territory Martinique is also knocking at the door and given remarks at the end of the region’s summit in Guyana last month, the two could be on board in the very near future. “The CARICOM Secretariat is going to work with both Martinique and the DR to fulfill the procedural aspect of things so by the time we get to July when the next regular heads of government meeting will be held, the full mechanism would be applied and recommendations would come to the heads,” Ali told reporters recently.

Grenada is set to host the July meeting. Not to be outdone are the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda both of which are British colonies which had been sidling up to CARICOM in recent decades. Both are associate members along with The Cayman Islands, The Turks and Caicos and Anguilla. They regularly attend CARICOM meetings.

BVI and Bermudan premiers Natalio Wheatley and David Burt were both at the Guyana summit and participated in most of the deliberations of a meeting which was dominated by efforts to solve Haiti’s political situation. They are hopeful approval would come in Grenada in four months.

Wheatley told reporters recently that full membership would mean participating in most of CARICOM’s policy initiatives barring free movement of people as it fears being swamped by people from fellow bloc members. The Bahamas has a similar policy. “We would want to be able to participate in programs based on our unique situation here in the Virgin Islands. We know that Montserrat, who is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, is a full member. Bermuda has sought an entrustment and received an entrustment from the United Kingdom to become a full member. Turks and Caicos as well has sought an entrustment,” he said, announcing.

For his part, Bermuda’s David Burt said London has already approved the move to graduate from an associate to full membership. He acknowledges that it might take some amount of lobbying to convince some skeptical locals about CARICOM.

“The average Bermudian might be asking themselves ‘what’s in this for me? Our government understands the potential benefits of a closer relationship with our sister islands and countries. These benefits go beyond the cultural and historic but also towards possible economic benefits to our country and opportunities for our Bermudian people. For too long we have been told to distance ourselves from the Caribbean, often by those who had no issue with benefiting financially from relationships established in the region while denying our government and our people the same opportunity,” he told reporters.Others knocking at the door even as associate members include Curacao, St. Maarten and French Guiana, all of which have held talks with regional officials in recent years.