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  • 8 months ago
A senior CARICOM official says Trinidad and Tobago's digital approach to the skills certificate system is "the best model" presently within the Caribbean Community.

However, one of this country's diplomats says several pieces of legislation require amendment for this country to meet the pending deadline for the full and free movement of all CARICOM Nationals .

Juhel Browne reports.
Transcript
00:00The national consultations on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, CSME,
00:05implementation arrangements and procedure began on Tuesday following an
00:09event at the Foreign Ministry with comments from Foreign and CARICOM Affairs
00:14Minister Dr. Amy Brown, Trade Minister Paula Gopi-Skoon and Minister in the
00:19Office of the Attorney General Renuka Sagram Singh-Suklal. During the closing
00:24session on Friday at the UWE St. Augustine Campus Teaching and Learning
00:28Complex, Trinidad and Tobago's Ambassador to CARICOM, Jennifer Marchand, spoke
00:33about a pending deadline. Among the critical areas of discussion was the
00:39important work being undertaken by the Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs
00:44to advance the mandate set by CARICOM heads for the full and free movement of
00:51all CARICOM nationals by 1st June 2025. Ambassador Marchand then made reference
00:58to the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. Certain key milestones in that regard
01:04have been established and that includes the Domestic Legislative Drafting
01:09Committee that was referenced earlier, which has in fact worked towards
01:15identifying 60 pieces of legislation that would require amendment in order
01:23for Trinidad and Tobago to meet this particular objective. So indeed we are
01:30laying the groundwork for the eventual realization of full and free movement
01:37across the community by the stipulated deadline. The Director of CARICOM Single
01:44Market and Trade at the CARICOM Secretariat, Leo Preville, said Trinidad and
01:48Tobago has legislatively recognized all of the existing 12 categories
01:53member states have approved for free movement where work is concerned. With
01:58respect to your skill certificate system, Trinidad and Tobago is employing a digital
02:05approach which I believe in all fairness is perhaps the best model we now have in
02:10the community and that other member states have in fact been examining that
02:15closely with a view to replicating as much as possible. However, Director
02:21Preville identified a concern regarding the right of establishment and the
02:25provision of services. The area we perhaps would want to flag and we in
02:30discussions recognize that this is a matter that has received considerable
02:36attention from the government of Trinidad and Tobago and the cabinet is the
02:40persistence with respect to the the need for a police certificate of
02:45character even at the stage where one is applying for a skill certificate. There
02:51is a decision on that by the conference but it has been explained to us for the
02:56purpose of national security that this is an area that Trinidad and Tobago
03:00continues to maintain but we discovered in the discussions that it is an area
03:06they are still willing to re-examine. Director Preville said it is an area
03:10being looked at for further reform which quote would put Trinidad and Tobago at
03:15the top of the mountain with respect to facilitation and quote June Brown TV6
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