Suriname Joins the Caribbean Single Market Economy

The Caribbean Community confirmed Suriname´s membership in the Caribbean Single Market Economy (CSME) from January 2006. Justice Minister Chandrikapersad Santhoki said there will be some restrictions on the free movement of goods, services and workers and residency limited to six months as any other country.

But CSME leader Wanya Illes and Industry and Commerce Minister Siegfried Gilds said they hope to knock down all restrictions on the first half of 2006. Since all fourteen CARICOM members signed the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, the CSME inauguration has been set for January 22 in Kingston, Jamaica.

Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago announced their readiness to set the CSME in motion from the early 2006. And Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname already gave consent.

The CARICOM associates are the British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, Anguilla, Caiman Islands and Bermudas. For their part, Aruba, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, the Dutch Antilles, Puerto Rico and Venezuela are observers.