With mere weeks to go before the 30th meeting of CARICOM's heads of government in Guyana, I would also like to add my two cents to the discussion.

As is customary, the media will be filled with all sorts of negative and sarcastic articles about CARICOM up to and after the meeting of heads of government.

I personally am not pessimistic about the integration process and believe that CARICOM will outlive all its critics.

I notice that there is a lot of 'sabre rattling' coming out of Jamaica in recent weeks, especially following their indignation that Trinidad and Barbados refused entry of Jamaican patties on phyto-sanitary grounds.

This indignation flies in the face of concerns expressed by the Jamaican Minister of Agriculture about the sanitary condition of Jamaican abattoirs and suggests that what is really needed is for Jamaican companies to examine their 'export readiness' rather than complaining about standard requirements for free trade.

I also suspect that the current rumblings are really just a lot of political grandstanding when all parties are aware that there are appropriate channels and mechanisms to resolve trade disputes among member states.

Patty issue

The 'Jamaican patty issue' could have been resolved through the CARICOM Secretariat or COTED, the Council for Trade and Economic Development, through the Competition Commission or even the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Ministers of member states in the region must begin to appreciate that a lot more can be achieved by using these 'official channels' for the resolution of grievances rather than voicing thinly veiled threats in the public domain.

All trade blocs have their disputes and this is why it is essential that member states understand their rights under the Treaty of Chaguaramas and how they can resolve issues as they arise.

However, let me turn to the subject of CARICOM and make a few suggestions about matters that should be tackled by the heads of government at their next meeting.

Firstly, I want to break with tradition and commend those who have been at the head of CARICOM over the past decade, because I believe that the integration process has made a lot of progress.

The CCJ has been established with its own funding mechanism.

The single market has been formalised, even though there are a few irritants remaining.

The Competition Commission has been established and needs some work.

More categories of persons can access regional work permits. Regional travel has been made easier with preference lines for CARICOM citizens.

The region has approached its external negotiations in a unified manner through the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery, notwithstanding some of the complaints about the recently inked Economic Partnership Agreement.

PetroCaribe and ALBA - the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas - didn't destroy CARICOM; and we managed to pull off a Cricket World Cup and the Summit of the Americas without any major embarrassment.

I would like to suggest that we now need to push ahead on a few important fronts.

We need meaningful private sector participation. CARICOM is a gathering of prime ministers and portfolio ministers who wield absolute power within the organs of CARICOM.

The private sector is grudgingly allowed a seat as an observer but 'can't speak unless spoken to'.

This does not provide for faithful consultation and the result has been a private sector that has never really bought into CARICOM.

The lone private sector lobby, the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce or CAIC, struggles financially because the captains of industry prefer to use their contacts with the various ministers and prime ministers to advance their interests, leaving the rest of the private sector to fend for themselves.

'Voting' seat

My suggestion is that the private sector be given a 'voting' seat around the table at COTED and the Council for Finance and Planning or COFAP.

If the private sector is supposed to be the 'engine of economic growth' then it must be part of the design of the systems to make this a reality.

I also believe that the chairmen of COTED and COFAP should be prime ministers, not ministers, to form a linkage back to the heads as I believe this will improve overall governance.

We need a CARICOM tax.

CARICOM will become a reality to citizens of the region when it is independently funded.

Several studies have been done that suggest that a tax of less than 5.0 per cent on imports into the region could go directly to CARICOM so that it can fund programmes and studies as directed by heads and other organs of CARICOM.

At the moment, CARICOM runs on a shoestring budget and is forced to be constantly 'begging' for donor support to make ends meet.

How can we expect such an arrangement to deliver the region's urgent requirements?

This is a challenge that can be taken up by the new crop of leaders in CARICOM and will directly address people's concerns about the slow pace of integration.

We need a common currency.

The conversion of the J$, TT$, EC$, GUY$, Bds$ to a single CARICOM$ needs to be tackled before we can talk about any single economy.

This is another ticklish topic that we tend to avoid, but is fundamental for our economic development.

We have the example of the European Union in terms of how they handled their single currency and managed to transfer to the euro.

Many felt that it was impossible for the French to part with the franc or the Germans with the deutsche mark. But it happened, with careful planning and great care. Yes there will be obstacles, but I am certain that we can overcome them.

CARICOM importance

Finally I want to share my view about the importance of CARICOM to the region.

I was listening to the BBC during the run-up to the recent EU elections and the reporter was interviewing a lady from somewhere in the middle of Germany.

He asked her whether she supported the EU and her answer startled me, so much that it should be recorded and sent to all citizens within CARICOM.

She said she supported the EU because "Germany is too small" to survive in the current world environment ... imagine that: Germany is too small.

So here we are with Jamaica suggesting that membership in CARICOM has been of little use; Nevis wants to secede.

Tobago wants self-government; and writers from several member states ridicule CARICOM at every turn.

Yet the lady in Germany says that her country is too small.

By the way, Germany has a population of 82 million people, covers an area of 357,000 square kilometres and has a GDP per capita of US$35,442, according to 2008 estimates.

Dr Rollin Bertrand is chief executive officer of Trinidad Cement Limited, director of the T&T Stock Exchange, former president of CAIC, and chairman of the CCJ Trust Fund.

I suspect that the current rumblings are really just a lot of political grandstanding.

business@gleanerjm.com