GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — The Guyana-based Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat says CARICOM’s development of a Single Market and Economy (SME) has been given a boost with the launch of four new online platforms aimed at promoting trade and improving the ease of doing business.

The Secretariat said with support from the European Union, it has launched the CARICOM Online Companies Registries; Labour Market Information System; Community Public Procurement Notice Board; and the CARREX Platform and Online Public Portal.

It said the CARICOM Online Companies Registries provide a region-wide electronic platform for online name searches and name reservation, business and company registration, public access to records, e-payment and e-signature, among other features.

It will also facilitate a better overview of the prevailing business climate in the region, helping for example, to identify areas of saturation, those with growth potential, and even the role of the informal economy.

Dr Stephen Boyce of the European Union said at least one recent high profile example illustrates the critical importance of this platform.

“A few years ago, the inflight magazine on LIAT was rebranded as LIME. This was just a few weeks before a telecommunications giant in the region acquired a similar moniker.  The result was a further rebranding to Zing to avoid any confusion. A regional register would have avoided this,” he noted.

The Secretariat said that the development of this platform required automating the more than half of the national company registries in CARICOM which were still paper based, upgrading those already automated, and providing a functioning web software/application information system.

It said with the Labour Market Information Systems there is now a central depository for data on the labour markets in participating CARICOM Member States.

“This allows for better matching of skills with available positions at the regional level, and will thus facilitate movement of skills in the region and better management of labour migration within the Single Market and Economy (CSME).”