Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley says her country has had a positive experience as one of the first four CARICOM member states to start full free movement last October. She revealed that Grenada has now officially said it wants to join, and Saint Lucia has also shown interest.
Responding to a question from St. Lucia Times during the closing press conference of the 51st CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting, Mottley said fewer than 1,000 people have used the arrangement so far, dispelling concerns that it would lead to a large influx of migrants.
She pointed out that most people who have moved under the arrangement have chosen Barbados, a trend she attributed to the country’s labour and skills shortages. The three other nations are Belize, Dominica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
“The majority have come to Barbados,” she said. “And as I’ve said over and over, Barbados has a skills deficit. One of the reasons why we signed on to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas in the first place was to facilitate the movement of people to bridge the fact that inherently our population numbers are low and, by extension, our skills levels are low.”
With Barbados pleased with the early rollout, Mottley said the initiative is beginning to gain momentum as other CARICOM member states move closer to joining.
“Grenada has submitted its letter now to come and join. And Saint Lucia has signalled an intention to start to take the process and to reflect how they too will come,” she said.
Mottley compared the growth of the free movement regime with CARICOM’s own expansion over time. She said it will likely grow in the same way, even though some people want it to happen faster.
“I expect that this will, just like CARICOM started in 1974 with four countries, then another six or seven joined, and then another one and another two. So these things happen in waves. But we’re happy with it,” Mottley said.
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