KINGSTOWN, ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES – Caribbean news. Addressing the Opening Ceremony of the 59th Meeting of the OECS Authority in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Saturday July 26, 2014, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Honourable Gaston Browne told the gathering that tough and painful decisions are being taken.
He stated that tough decisions lie ahead, and “we must not shy away from these decisions at the regional level, because at the national level we are taking tough and painful decisions as well.” Several OECS member states are under programmes with the International Monetary Fund, and as Honourable Gasrton Browne pointed out, “the fiscal space of the past has disappeared.”
Browne who was handing over the Chairmanship of the sub-regional body to Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skeritt, lamented, “The costs of critical inputs such as energy has become onerous. We cannot be frugal at the national level and profligate at the regional level.
“If we are biting the bullet at home, we will have to bite the bullet regionally, as well. All our decisions and policies, both at the national and regional level will have to constitute a seamless governance structure that takes account o the needs of our countries and the resources at our disposal.”
Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne
Meanwhile the Organisation of the Eastern Caribbean States – OECS, Economic Affairs Council held its inaugural meeting in Saint Lucia a few weeks ago, as part of implementing the OECS Economic Union processes.
During the discussions according to Prime Minister Gaston Browne, “The Economic Union implementation process is well underway and it is now for us, both at the policy and technical levels, to ensure a robust and timely consummation of all these very important elements.”
He also suggested that “the timely establishment of a free circulation of goods regime can bring an early harvest of benefits to our stakeholders in the business community.”
He continued, “I will be the first to acknowledge that the free circulation of goods regime is a revenue sensitive matter, a way can be found to remove present restrictions on the movement of goods between member states and thus stimulate OECS cross border trade.”
