Essay On Caribbean Integration

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The Caribbean, a region of small states, is a unique place where people share similar history, culture, language, social, economic and political issues. This region is also vulnerable to political reformation, devaluation, natural disasters and globalization. Despite these threats and difficulties, this region has been slowly progressing to a common purpose; a goal that will make the Caribbean region stand out from the rest of the world. Caribbean integration has come a long way. Today 14 million CARICOM nationals have the right to move and work within the CARICOM nations; they are also guaranteed the right do business without barriers. But this didn’t just happen spontaneously, the Caribbean people have been fighting to be recognized as a …show more content…

A unified Caribbean is necessary as states are small in size in population, have limited resources, experience similar exportation difficulties, and all have related history and culture.
The majority of the countries in the Caribbean region are too small to make a bold economic or political statement that is heard on the world “stage”. In particular, countries such as Belize, which are small in size and population and are extremely vulnerable to external shocks. Regionalism gives these small countries a voice. Thus, “Regionalization creates a more persuasive voice in global matters” (Development Paths in the Caribbean). Regionalization is defined by Cambridge Dictionaries as “the way that an area of the world containing several countries becomes more economically or politically important than the particular countries within that area’(Dictionary). Smaller countries, such as Belize, in the Caribbean, are …show more content…

Integration provides a larger market for member states (Development Paths in the Caribbean). Integration schemes deliver numerous benefits to Caribbean countries; these schemes “go beyond” the capacity of CARICOM. Hence, CARICOM has stated that in order to increase influence, Caribbean countries need to work together (CARICOM). Developed countries are uniting to increase their productivity at different levels (International Monetary Fund). It is evident that developing countries are experiencing rapid growth, and rapid growth demands additional resources. In May 2016, directors of the IMF encouraged the authorities of Guyana “to move toward greater economic diversification by advancing reforms to promote competition and improve the business climate’ (International Monetary Fund). Another country confronting similar conditions is Belize. Belize has been vulnerable to adverse shocks mainly because of its weak external strategies. The country’s limited resources keep the country stopping its economic growth. The Amandala reported the Leader of the Opposition comments “The government has mismanaged the economy. Shrimp is down, banana..,sugar…payaya is down. Our foreign currency is running out; last year it went down by around $150 million”(Goodin 55). Thus, local Caribbean governments are pressured to revolutionize strategies to maximize

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