Prime Minister Mia Mottley says Barbados will ‘open our doors with order and with pride’ as Barbados joins three other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries in fully implementing free movement of their nationals among themselves from today.
Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize and Dominica are implementing one of the major aspects of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) that allows for the free movement of goods, skills, labour and services across the region.
The Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat said that extensive preparations have been undertaken to ensure ‘a smooth and secure rollout’ of the full free movement among the four countries, adding that the other member states that participate in the CSME and have not signed on to full free movement ‘will continue to facilitate movement of their nationals under the existing regime for skilled workers, for the provision of services and the operation of businesses’.
In a nationwide radio and television broadcast on Tuesday night, Prime Minister Mottley acknowledged that Barbados is on the cusp of a change that will touch the lives across the Caribbean region and strengthen the nation.