The Caribbean community (CARICOM)

Abstract

The contribution of Caribbean countries to global commerce has not been impressive. To this end, when the Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) became operative in August 1973, there were great expectations that at long last there was in place an institutional framework for economic integration in the Caribbean. This invariably implied that the challenge of market fragmentation would be an issue of the past and intra-regional commerce would also be enhanced. Forty years and more after the entry into force of the Treaty of Chaguaramas (and 12 years after the entry into force of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas), not much progress has been made in terms of the economic integration and de-fragmentation of Caribbean markets. Issues abound at present as to whether the CARICOM, one of the world’s oldest still-functioning regional economic institutions, would ever be able to survive and if it does, whether it would at last plug the Caribbean region into the grid of global commerce. This chapter holds that there are still some weak areas in the institutional and normative framework of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that could not properly support market integration. It suggests that the CARICOM needs to play a greater role in ensuring that this weak framework is strengthened.