Work continues towards free movement across CARICOM - Johnson Smith

 

Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamina Johnson Smith said work is continuing towards implementing full free movement across CARICOM.

 

Regional heads last July had agreed on moving towards full free movement as part of efforts to bolster integration.

 

The integration policy was initially set to take effect on March 31.

 

But the minister said there is a significant amount of technical work to be done in order to achieve this objective. 

 

"There is an intergovernmental task force. Jamaica is a part of that. We're working through matters like the definitions of health care, which means different things in different countries and has implications for not only capacity, but for cost. Similarly for education, because access to primary and secondary would be a part of what is considered, and of course, Ministry of Labour and Social Security and Ministry of Finance, because of course there would be the right to work.

 

"So there will be a transitional period, but work does continue towards the next full regular meeting of heads, which will be in Grenada in July of this year, where we will undoubtedly have a significant update if we don't have one before then," declared Minister Johnson Smith.

 

She was speaking during Wednesday morning's post-Cabinet press briefing.

 

She said the government has also been working on integrating financial, capital and telecommunications services to support the ease of movement across CARICOM.