CARICOM an untapped business resource

By Michelle Nurse On Apr 17, 2015

Sir Dennis Byron, President of the Caribbean Court of Justice

CARICOM and its Treaty laws relating to economic integration are an untapped resource for civil society, including the Regional business and banking sectors, Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) President Sir Dennis Byron, 71, says today as the Court marks its tenth anniversary.

In an interview with Business Day granted last week, the senior jurist called for civil society to lobby for implementation of Treaty laws which could benefit them. In particular, he said Treaty law could be used by banks on a Regional level to better compete with foreign banks.

The idea behind the Treaty was to strengthen Caribbean banking and financial institutions because at the moment this area of economic activity is dominated by foreign banks and the local banks throughout CARICOM are in a weak position because they are too small and they cannot compete on an equal footing,” Sir Dennis said at his third-floor office at the CCJ, Henry Street, Port-of-Spain.

The Treaty has set up a framework which enabled cross-border ownership and association which could have created larger footholds for the banking community in the Region and the banks have not done it.”[su_box title=”The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)” style=”soft” box_color=”#54c0f0″]The CCJ was inaugurated on 16 April, 2005 in Trinidad and Tobago where it is headquartered. Its central role is providing legal certainty to the operations of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). It is structured to have two jurisdictions – an original and an appellate. In its original jurisdiction it ensures uniform interpretation and application of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, thereby underpinning and advancing the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. As the final court of appeal for Member States of the Caribbean Community it fosters the development of an indigenous Caribbean jurisprudence[/su_box]