ARGUING that small developing countries are facing increasing challenges within the global economy, the foreign affairs ministry is pushing to educate the public on the utility of regional integration through the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).

Speaking at the third in a series of workshops on Friday, junior foreign affairs minister Arnaldo Brown said the CSME has been making a positive contribution to the national economy, businesses and personal lives.

He referenced Jamaican companies that have established operations in Caricom jurisdictions, and Jamaican nationals who he said were actively utilising the Caricom skills regime and are gainfully employed across the Caricom region.

Included in the list of companies he used as examples are Sandals Resorts International, GraceKennedy, Guardsman Group Limited, Jamaica Money Market Brokers, ICWI, Island Grill and Rainforest Seafoods. That, he said, was proof that although the economic aspect of the CSME is yet to be realised, progress is being made.

“Very frequently we hear on the other side that we need to delink from Caricom. I think it’s time that they abandon that notion. What we need to focus on is to make it more efficient and make it work,” he said.

“The fact, too, that many of our key development partners are increasingly relating to the Caricom region as a group and not only as individual countries, further underscores the reality that we cannot afford to go it alone,” the minister added.

Brown also used increasing trade within the region as a sign that things were happening, saying that Jamaica’s total exports to Caricom showed an 11.5 per cent increase over the figure recorded for 2013.

“We would like to see this trend continue,” he said.

“The single market, and ultimately the single economy, are important building blocks towards developing greater trade and economic co-operation with our traditional and non-traditional partners within and outside of this hemisphere,” Brown also said.

Canadian High Commissioner to Jamaica Robert Ready also made a presentation at the opening of Friday’s workshop and pointing to Canada’s trade with the Commonwealth Caribbean through CARIBCAN, also batted for regional integration under the CSME model.

Friday’s workshop was titled AccessCSME — the media edition. The two previous ones targeted teachers and spokespersons, which the organisers said included civil society groups, the private sector and youth.

BROWN… the single market, and ultimately the single economy, are important building blocks towards developing greater trade and economic co-operation