THE People's Empowerment Party (PEP) extends a warm welcome to all Heads of Government, civil society leaders and technocrats of our Caribbean Community (CARICOM) who are in Barbados attending this weekend's Convocation on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

These regional leaders are expected to give careful consideration to the findings of an 'audit' which was recently carried out in all CARICOM states on the workings of the CSME. It is also anticipated that they will propose strategies for advancing the process of constructing a 'single economy'.

The PEP would like to urge these leaders to approach their task with a consciousness that the CARICOM region is in the grip of a major economic crisis that threatens to plunge all of our nations into poverty and disarray. It cannot therefore be business as usual!

In January of this year, the PEP wrote to all of the heads of government and the leaders of all of the governing and opposition political parties of CARICOM proposing the holding of a bi-partisan, CARICOM-wide political convocation geared towards developing a bi-partisan, collective, emergency programme of action to respond to the crisis. Unfortunately however, the only entities that bothered to respond to our appeal were the New Democratic Party of St Vincent and Prime Minister Thompson of Barbados.

Since then, the economic crisis has intensified, as manifested in Jamaica and Antigua heading to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Trinidad government experiencing a TT $18.9 billion drop in revenues, and Barbados being buffeted by a 12 per cent decline in the vital tourism industry. We can therefore safely predict that if CARICOM does not rise up to the challenge of developing a serious collective plan of action, that all of our nations will eventually end up in the hands of the IMF.

This realisation led the PEP to send a second letter to the regional government and opposition leaders in the month of September, reiterating our call for a convocation that includes heads of government, opposition leaders, presidents of the political parties, and representatives of organised labour and the Caribbean private sector.

This is now a time for bold, visionary, patriotic and creative action! This is a time for us to put aside egos and narrow political agendas, and to come together in defence of our region and its people.

The PEP urges the leaders of CARICOM to be brutally frank in dealing with our condition in the region. We keep coming together to talk about trade - but what are we actually producing? We must forge ahead with collective investments in new industries and structures of production. And these efforts will have to be led by our governments, albeit working in partnership with the private sector.

We must also strive for the collective security of our people. Throughout the region, existing public sector jobs and government welfare programmes are under threat. Let us therefore come together and fashion a collective 'CARICOM Social Security Stabilisation Project' aimed at preserving existing public sector jobs and welfare programmes over the next 24 months. And of course, where we fall short in resources, we would then be in a position to approach the international community for assistance with credibility and dignity.

Let us also bite the bullet and set a time frame for the establishment of a 'Union of Caribbean States' equipped with: a common citizenship, passport and currency; a union executive armed with a mandate to develop the entire territory of the union; a collective industrial development programme; and a time frame for phasing in full freedom of movement.