Regional trade, transport and digital transformation are among the goals for Caricom for the next 50 years said panellists on Friday as Caricom celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Caricom Secretary General Dr Carla N Barrett highlighted these focus points in her feature address, saying that while the region has seen a number of successes through its unification as one regional community but still has much to learn in the years to come.

“In the past 50 years, we have functioned as a collaborative mechanism which has established a number of specialised regional institutions including in the areas of education, health, agriculture, disaster management, climate change and crime and security,” she said. “As a region we were successful in the establishment of the Caribbean Development Bank, the Caribbean Court of Justice, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, the Caribbean Examination Council, the Pan American Partnership against HIV/AIDS, among others,”

“Let us be clear – there is more than could have been done to take us further along the road. The lag in the implementation of efficient transportation has adversely affected intra-regional trade and the ease of travel. The non-tariff barriers that impeded the flow of trade created unnecessary friction. Actions by officials at points of entry threaten to become a deterrent to Caricom citizens wishing to visit or seek employment in another member state.”

Barnett said new initiatives will deal with issues facing the region including climate change, digitisation and engaging youth. The Bridgetown Initiative for one, which Barnett said was initiated by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley will seek to galvanise political leadership to develop policy reforms to address the crises facing the region. One such proposal is the establishment of a multilateral instrument for climate finance, drawing from the International Monetary Fund.

“The initiative is a three-step plan to mobilise short-term liquidity for crisis response and long-term funding for sustainable development,” Barrett said.

She added that a regional digital development strategy is being looked at which will include ICT spaces for the entire community.

“The objective of the single ICT space is to establish modern regional regulatory and open telecommunication infrastructures with networks using converged technologies to provide affordable and universal access.”

She added that with more than 60 per cent of the population in Caricom under the age of 30 it is now time for the next generation to contribute to Caricom’s future .

“Earlier generations laid a solid foundation. It is now the turn of another generation to not only secure and improve on those gains, but to use the creativity, ingenuity and dynamism that are signature characteristics of Caribbean people to re-imagine the next 50 years of Caricom.”