International and regional Organizations

(GOVT 2048)
Introduction
The Caribbean Region, multilateral and fascinating, captures the attention of nearly anyone who
dares to take a closer inspection. Its rich history and beautiful culture take you in, unveiling the
heights to which it can accelerate while giving insight into how low, the community can get.
In an effort to ensure the Caribbean continues to peak, organizations such as CARICOM AND
OECS are driving forces behind regional integration and the idea of regionalism in the
Caribbean.
CARICOM
The Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas,
which was signed by Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago and came into effect on August 1, 1973.
It was built on the trials and errors of previous unification efforts, beginning with the ambitious West Indies
Federation (1958-62), which sought political and economic unification. Despite encouragement from Great
Britain, it dissolved rapidly when Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago withdrew in favour of national self-
determination. In the midst of the failure to federate, the hope, if not the necessity, of economic integration
remained alive and took a new form in 1965 with the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA). It marked the
beginning of a free trade area and was replaced five years later by a deeper commitment under CARICOM
(Hornebeck , 2008)
The CARICOM countries decided in 1989 to further integrate their economies, and in this regard prepared the
Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), which was signed
in 2001 (Haughton, 2010).
CARICOM gets its funding through the contributions by each member state as well as grants and aid , the
CARICOM Development Fund, donations from others through projects and Regional Institutions like the
Caribbean Examination Council.
CARICOM Governance and Structure

The Organs of the Community are the Conference of Heads of

Government and the Ministerial Councils which have
responsibility for key policy areas, as set out in the Revised
Treaty of Chaguaramas. The Organs are the decision-making
bodies of the Community.
CARICOM Governance and Structure

•CARICOM is made up of 15 Member States and 5 Associate

Members. Similarly, to the UN, CARICOM functions through
various organs such as:
 The Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP)
 The Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR)
 The Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD)
 The Council for National Security and Law Enforcement
(CONSLE)
 The Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED)
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
Once referred to as the Little Eight, the OECS is made up of 11 Member states that are located in the Eastern
area of the Caribbean. The OECS is a byproduct of the collapse of the West Indies Federation. After Jamaica and
Trinidad and Tobago left the Federation, the remaining eight countries continued to meet as they thought that
regional integration was necessary. The Little Eight broke down even more when Barbados gained
Independence on its own.
They created a new regional council for this joint approach. Having been granted a novel constitutional status of
Associated States of Great Britain in 1967, the regional council was renamed the West Indies Associated States
Council of Ministers (WISA Council).
Authority. The WISA Council met at least once a year and took decisions in the interests of the group as a whole.
In 1968, the WISA Council of Ministers decided to create an economic integration organisation – the East
Caribbean Common Market (ECCM).
The leaders of the WISA Council decided that after independence, the islands should be represented jointly
overseas and speak with one voice in international affairs. It was agreed that in order to achieve this, a regional
organisation, more formal and stronger than the WISA Council, should be established to further advance
regional integration. On 18 June 1981, in Basseterre, the capital of Saint Kitts and Nevis, the WISA Council
members signed the Treaty of Basseterre that integrated the informal WISA Council of Ministers and the ECCM
into the new organisation – the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States – OECS.

Structure of OECS
The Authority
are the Heads of Government of the Member States made up
of the Prime Ministers/Chief Ministers of each Member State
and is the supreme policy-making body.
The Council of Ministers
Ministers are appointed to the Council by their Governments
and responsible for recommending to the Authority Acts of
the Organisation and regulations for the implementation of
these Acts.
The OECS Assembly
The OECS Assembly is made up of representatives of the elected
members of the Houses of Parliament and Legislatures of the Member
States. Each Independent Member State of the Organisation elects five
members of its Parliament to the Assembly while Non-Independent
States are entitled to three members.
The Economic Affairs Council
Ministers are appointed to the Council by the Head of Government of
that Member State. The Economic Affairs Council is the principal
organ of the Economic Union Protocol of the Revised Treaty of
Basseterre.
The OECS Commission
The Commission is led by the Director General with one Commissioner
of Ambassadorial rank from each Member Country. The Commission’s
functions include the provision of Secretariat services to the Organs of
the Organisation, coordinating meetings of these Organs and acting on
decisions, recommendations or directives approved at such meetings
Comparative Analysis
Free Movement
The free movement of people within the CSME is intended to promote economic integration, regional development, and
closer cooperation among member countries. Here are the key aspects of free movement within CARICOM:
• Skilled Workers
• Service Providers
• Self-Employed
• Provision of Services
• Right of Establishment
• Non-Discrimination
• Entry and Stay

It's important to note that while the CSME provides for the free movement of certain categories of people, there are still
administrative and regulatory requirements that may apply, such as the need for professional accreditation or licensing.
Additionally, each member state has the right to implement specific immigration and security measures in the interest of
public safety.
The success and effectiveness of free movement within CARICOM can vary among member states, and challenges may
arise from time to time, but the overall aim is to promote regional integration and economic growth through the facilitated
movement of people and services.
Caricom and OECS
CARICOM and OECS share similar objectives in expanding growth in the Caribbean. While both were born out
of the West Indies Federation, CARICOM takes a more diplomatic approach in the international arena. This is
recognized in their policies and efforts made to strengthen international ties with more developed states. The
OECS, on the other hand, is more region-focused. The OECS has recently been successful in fostering deeper
integration (Schipke et al., n.d.). Schipke et al. (n.d.), further explain that over time it is conceivable that further
areas of competence will become the purview of the subregion, rather than national governments. Hence, OECS
integrating at a deeper level than CARICOM.
However, the rationale for CARICOM has always been grounded on the fact that Caribbean countries are at a
natural disadvantage in regard to size, geography and global reach. CARICOM’s main purposes are to promote
economic integration and cooperation among its members, ensure that integration benefits are equitably shared,
and coordinate foreign policy (Chand, 2014).
Separate from that, both organizations seek to grow their economies and their civil society though free
movement, technology, education and the environment development .
In recent years the world has witnessed a proliferation of regional integration mechanisms at all levels of
political-economic interaction. These may take the shape of formal processes of ongoing political integration
encompassing many states or looser bi- or pluri-lateral trade agreements with varying objectives, levels of
institutionalisation, capacity, and political support.
Moreover, this changes over time as some institutions become dated and others come into vogue. Nonetheless,
increasingly there are significant numbers of overlapping institutions in the world, such that they have been
likened to a ‘spaghetti bowl’, the implication being that their range and complexity – and concomitant lack of
clarity and transparency – outweighs the positives of such agreements. In the case of the Caribbean, just a
cursory consideration of the institutions with which it is directly involved or indirectly related to/influenced by
is instructive.
CARICOM still remains – for now at least - the default institution of regional governance, or, as we put it
earlier, the ‘umbrella’ for specifically Caribbean integration. In terms of comparison, the EU provides the most
obvious candidate since it is the most advanced and successful of all regional integration movements.
Moreover, it has been the standard bearer for those processes around the world – such as the CSME – which
have attempted to foster a single market based upon full liberalisation and economic integration.
As a major trading partner of the OECS region, the EU is one of the leading markets for the region‘s
exports of agricultural produce. From 2000-2006, OECS exports to the EU averaged USD$83 million, of
which roughly 28% were agricultural products. For some countries, this ratio is significantly higher.
While exports of food and live animals only accounted for 11% of St. Vincent-EU trade, they accounted
for over 70% of total exports to the EU from St. Lucia, Grenada and St. Kitts.
EU-CARICOM trade has been directed by a series of agreements which provide tariff-free access for
OECS goods entering the EU. Specifically, the WTO GSP allows for the region to be granted preferential
treatment under the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) provisions. Through a series of legal waivers, a
network of non-reciprocal preferences also allowed tariff-free access for most of CARICOM‘s goods
entering the EU market and these had been maintained under successive WTO trade rounds of Lomé I
through IV (1976-2000) and their successor, the Cotonou Agreement (2000-2007).
Given the perceived vulnerability of the small, open economies of the OECS to fluctuations in trade
patterns and their dependence on foreign exchange earnings from exports, it is critical that their
advantages are identified and exploited. As such, the current research will provide a useful indicator of the
sources of trade advantage in the OECS sub-region vis-à-vis the EU and will offer policymakers a useful
tool for determining the most efficient allocation of resources across the region.
 Reference

CARICOM. (2019, February 15). Our governance - CARICOM.

https://caricom.org/our-community/who-we-are/our-governance/#:~:text=The%20Organs%20of
%20the%20Community,making%20bodies%20of%20the%20Community.
Haughton, M. (2010). CARICOM perspective and possible funding opportunities for establishment of a
Caribbean regional shellfish hatchery. FAO FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE PROCEEDINGS,
19, 189–197. https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20113252382
Rouis, M., & Tabor, S. R. (2012). Regional economic integration in the Middle East and North Africa. In The World
Bank eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-9726-8
Schipke, M., Cebotari, A., & Thacker, M. (n.d.). The Eastern Caribbean Economic and Currency
Union: Macroeconomics and Financial Systems. International Monetary Fund.