NINETEEN students from the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) Cave Hill campus in Barbados have concluded a week-long study tour in Jamaica, where they examined the extent of the implementation of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).

The tour was a part of a public education programme organised by the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat, titled: ‘Students Engaging the Caricom Single Market and Economy Through Field Promotion’.

It was aimed at fostering an understanding of the CSME and how it operates by exposing and sensitising Caricom nationals enrolled in tertiary institutions to the five regimes of the CSME.

These are:

• the free movement of goods;

• the free movement of skills;

• the free movement of capital;

• the provision of services; and

• the right of establishment.

Funds for the trip was provided by the European Union under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) aimed at strengthening regional cooperation and supporting the integration agendas of regional organisations.

During the week, the students met with business executives and toured government and private sector entities, including the Jamaica Customs Agency, Jamaican Teas Limited and the Jamaica Exporters’ Association (JEA).

A closing ceremony held at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston, last Friday, was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the Caricom Secretariat, and business entities.

Technical advisor, investment and private sector of the Caricom Secretariat’s Office of Trade Negotiations, Joel Richards, told

JIS News that the objective was for the students to “see first-hand how the CSME is being implemented and how it is working.

“The students are here to see how Jamaica has been implementing its various commitments under the CSME, and some of the challenges that Jamaica might be experiencing,” he said.

Richards noted that a number of the students were visiting Jamaica for the first time, and it was his hope that the trip would engender that “spirit of Caribbeanness” and to understand that “we are all Caribbean people”.

“I hope they have had a very first-hand experience as it relates to how different actors in Jamaica feel about Caribbean regional integration and what the Government is doing to advance regional integration here in Jamaica,” he said.

Richards said that through the visit the students now have a good idea about how the CSME is working and companies that are benefitting.

“What we have is a sense that persons really support regional. What we have picked up as well is the need for us to strengthen certain aspects of what we are doing,” he added.

The visit by the Cave Hill students was the penultimate tour under the programme. Jamaican students from two major tertiary institutions participated in similar exercises in St Vincent and the Grenadines in November 2015.

Richards said that the final mission, which is expected to be undertaken later this year, will see students from Suriname visiting Dominica.