For a Sangre Grande watermelon farmer who wants to sell his produce in a Bridgetown or Castries market place, it will soon be as easy as leaving his home to sell his produce in Port of Spain.

Under the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), which is intended to remove all barriers to trade and the free movement of people, the same principles apply, according to Jerry Narace, head of the Caricom Single Market and Economy Unit in Port of Spain.

And while farmers are not listed among the first beneficiaries of free movement, under the CSM, which came into effect on January 1, 2006, Narace says that ultimately every Caricom national will be able to move freely across the region.

According to Narace, however, what it means for the watermelon or coconut farmer "is that cross-border services, cross-border sales will now take place and just as some people leave Arima and go to Guayaguayare to sell produce, in the same way they can now go to Guyana and wherever else".

He admitted that while some of this may be happening now, soon there will be greater facilitation for more massive movement, adding that under the Rights of Establishment, people can now establish a business in any of the 15 Caricom member states.

Media workers, sports persons, musicians and entertainers, UWI graduates, self-employed persons, and business people are listed as the first categories of workers to enjoy free movement, but a committee under the chairmanship of Dominica's Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, is looking at expanding the list.

Caricom's dream, an old one dating back to the shortlived Federation (1958-1962), is to have a united and so deeply integrated Caricom region that people will no longer be seen as Guyanese or Bajan or Trini, but as "Caricom nationals", Narace said in an interview last week.

"Just as Arimians see themselves as citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, just so we must all be seen as Caricom nationals," Narace said, a move which is already cementing itself in the coming on stream of the Caricom passport, already in existence in Grenada and Suriname.

Chief Immigration Officer Browne said the new Caricom passports, which are really going to be the new machine-readable passports, will come on stream in this country in July/August 2006.

So far, some 2,000 applications have been made for Skills Certificates, and Narace said to date just over 700 certificates have been awarded to allow Caricom nationals to enter the labour market in the region. Current statistics show that more Jamaicans have applied and have been approved to work in Trinidad and Tobago.

"In Trinidad, we have approved 13 applications from Antigua/Barbuda; Barbados-71; Belize-two; Domi- nica-33; Grenada-26; Guyana-114; Jamaica-191; St Kitts-Nevis-seven; St Lucia-46; St Vincent-29; and Suriname-19; while we have awarded Trinidad and Tobago nationals 168 certificates to work in other member states.

The journey to the CSME started in 1989, with a decision which was contained in the Grand Anse Declaration, issued at the end of the tenth regular meeting of Caricom Heads of Government held in that seaside village in Grenada. And while the single market part has come to fruition, the single economy is slated to come on stream at the beginning of 2008. This of course deals with the whole issue of monetary and fiscal harmonisation among the member states.

Upon receiving a certificate, which in Trinidad is a four-sided, laminated document which bears the photograph of the applicant, he or she presents it to the Immigration officer of the "host" country or the country where he/ she intends to work. The certificate allows for a six-month stay in the country.

Regional Immigration officers have undergone a period of training at the Caricom Secretariat in Guyana, according to Browne, and are sensitised to deal with the migratory worker, who upon landing in his new "home", is expected to contact the CSME Unit there and will at some point be given another certificate, this time for an indefinite period.

At the moment, only six countries are CSME-ready. They are Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Belize.

The nine members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean states (OECS) are not on board, but the recently constituted US$12 million Regional Development Fund (RDF) is expected to get them CSM-ready by the end of the March 2006.

Trinidad and Tobago has contributed US$10 million to this fund, while Barbados has given US$2 million. The region's Ministers of Finance are to meet in Jamaica later this month to finalise plans on how this fund is to be disbursed to the disadvantaged sectors or member states.

At the end of the day, the RDF is expected to be in the region of US$120 million, Narace said.

Yes, you have to pay taxes in the country in which you are working, as well as pay for your own housing accommodation, health bills, etc; and yes, you can move freely with your family members, so there is no reason why the migratory worker has to leave his/her children behind while searching for a better living elsewhere.

Narace sees the CSME as "one giant step for Caribbean mankind", and he said he is not so naive to think there would be no problems, a point taken by the Caricom itself, hence the setting up of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in its original jurisdiction to deal with any disputes arising out of the CSME.

There are other concerns as well-health issues, as alluded to by UN Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS to the Caribbean Prof George Alleyne when he addressed the Pan Caribbean Business Coalition Against HIV/AIDS conference at the Crowne Plaza hotel late last year. "We know that in cases where there is a frequency of travel, the risk of spreading the disease increases," he said.

And yes, there are fears in Bridgetown as there are in Port of Spain that skilled workers from another country will come and "rob" bona-fide residents of jobs and other social benefits, but the process is an equal one in that skilled Trinidadians can work anywhere they choose.

Caricom very early admitted that the media has a key role in the CSME process.

In March 2005, Carrington addressed a workshop in Barbados for senior media workers in which he gave participants the mandate to go spread the CSME message to the more than 6,000,000 Caricom nationals, describing the media as "critical conveyors" and "prime agents" of the process.

He said the task of informing those whose lives would be most affected by the CSME could not be left to the BBC or CNN, but to the regional media which better understands the social, cultural, economic and political life of the Caribbean states.

Carrington dealt with the issue of elitism in the selection of workers for free movement, but the Trinity Cross holder said, "I am sure a full-scale opening of the gates would have given rise to other criticisms."

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