The movement of services, the right to establishment and the movement of capital are fundamental pillars of CARICOM. Thanks to the bloc’s existing framework, nationals can establish businesses or economic enterprises in any member state and must receive treatment no less favourable than that given to locals.
Moreover, CARICOM nationals and companies can provide cross-border services across the region. A consultant in Barbados can advise a client in Grenada, a patient from Saint Lucia can seek medical care in Trinidad, a Jamaican IT firm can set up a branch in Antigua, or an accountant from Belize can offer services in Dominica.
In principle, discriminatory barriers to the movement of services should be dismantled. Yet, as with the free movement of people (discussed in my previous column), challenges persist. However, withdrawing from CARICOM would not magically ease these obstacles; it would exacerbate them. The safeguards ensuring equitable treatment for our citizens would vanish, leaving remaining member states free to impose less favourable terms on our businesses and professionals.
The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) explicitly states that CARICOM nationals must be treated equally among themselves, and no worse than third-party states. Leaving the bloc would severely damage our regional relationships.
The movement of capital further facilitates cross-border transactions, currency convertibility, and access to credit, investments and financial services. Yet, the argument for withdrawal is not just flawed—it’s dangerously shortsighted. In an era of global instability and insularity, Caribbean unity is more vital than ever. Only together can we project diplomatic strength, secure favourable international terms, and create viable alternatives for our citizens.
It is naive to think a microstate like Saint Lucia – with 180 000 people and an open, vulnerable economy – could navigate today’s turbulent world alone. CARICOM’s collective voice has historically carried far greater weight than any single member’s – whether in climate advocacy, opposition to the United States embargo on Cuba, diplomatic stances on Venezuela and Haiti, reparations campaigns, or reforms at the IMF and World Bank. While outcomes aren’t always perfect, incremental gains have been achieved through unity – gains that would be impossible by acting alone.
That said, internal disparities persist. More Developed Countries (MDCs), buoyed by oil, gas and stronger economies, hold an advantage over Less Developed Countries (LDCs) like Saint Lucia, which grapple with small markets, underdeveloped manufacturing and limited resources. The result? A lopsided trade dynamic, with MDCs exporting value-added goods while LDCs rely on raw materials.
Withdrawal would not magically resolve these imbalances. The root causes – weak productive capacity, uncompetitive industries, high energy costs and a lack of value-added production – are structural. Instead of retreating, we should push for meaningful capitalisation of the Caribbean Development Fund (CDF), which exists to assist LDCs with financial and technical support, regional competitiveness, and mitigating the uneven effects of trade liberalisation.
None of this is to ignore CARICOM’s lingering challenges: improving regional transportation, enhancing security cooperation, advancing free movement with contingent rights, and harmonising professional standards. Yet despite these hurdles, incremental progress is being made.
Most critically, CARICOM is not just the CSME. It’s also the appendage institutions Saint Lucia relies on: CARPHA, CDEMA, UWI, Caribbean Export, the CCJ, CCCCC, CXC and others. What happens to our relationship with these bodies if we withdraw? Would we renegotiate access from a weaker position? Or do proponents of withdrawal imagine we could exit the CSME while retaining benefits from its appendages?
We can only have a meaningful conversation about “withdrawal” when reasonable answers to these questions are provided.
COLUMN As I See It: In defence of CARICOM – Part 1
Rahym R. Augustin-Joseph is a 24-yearold Saint Lucian pursuing his Bachelor of Laws at UWI Cave Hill, after earning first-class honours in political science and law. The current Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholar and a former UWI valedictorian, he is dedicated to using law and politics to transform Saint Lucia and the wider Caribbean.
Sir, you highlight issues regional integration helps to surmount, and the disparities between more developed countries and less developed countries, yet I think a key issue as in the case of Saint Lucia is that, for decades successive governments have failed to move our nation’s development forward at speed by adopting the economic model developed by non other, than a son of the soil, Sir Arthur Lewis. It is known that places like Singapore, Taiwan and some other Asian states have revolutionised their economy by adopting economic principles espoused by Sir Arthur Lewis. Indeed, Saint Lucia has a smaller population compared to say, Singapore, but that is precisely the point, Saint Lucia is not playing to her greater strength. First, I find it reprehensible that we don’t have a home grown or flagship university or universities as yet. Educating the people to become the engines of the economy is the first pillar of economic development. I believe that if we had our own universities on home soil, firstly, our nationals would not have to go abroad to study and pay exhorbant fees for education. Secondly, home grown universities could work with government in establishing scientific research that can then develop or invent products which can be sold globally. Thirdly, Unis will equip our people with skills needed in an extremely competitive world, fourthly, home grown Unis will stem the brain drain of talents from Saint Lucia but only if governments open up or expand the career poll in Saint Lucia. Often times citizens go abroad for further education and inevitably after completing their masters or PhDs, they are quickly absorbed by the country in which they completed their further education and we can’t blame them, they need to practice their expertise as they have worked hard to achieve their well deserved qualification. It is the government that needs to step up and create the space necessary for these talented individuals to express their talents. It’s time to move away from the traditional professions such as law, medicine, accountants etc etc. I am not against these noble professions but we can’t all be doctors and lawyer and accountants. We need scientist specialised in the various disciplines of physics, chemistry, biology, astrophysicists, engineers who specialises in the various branches of engineering etc etc. Yes we are a small nation but we are no less capable of punching above our weight. Now imagine this is replicated across CSME, we would have accelerated our development exponentially in a short space of time. Caribbean governments have been too slow to capitalise on this as shown by how long it has taken to implement the necessary protocols to allow the free movement of people, goods and services. The idea of integration is dying slowly under the weight of governmental inactivity across the region. The developed nations play to their strengths, the have a broadly educated populace, specialists in a wide range of various fields, they develop/ invent technology and sell it to the world. So there is a strong link between home grown universities, government, and civil society. LDNs can stand on the world stage but governments must take action and lead the way in giving the people the tools needed to compete on the global stage. These are just a few things if resolved, can move us in the right direction.