CSME is key, says Arthur

Former?Prime Minister Owen Arthur’s battle wounds from championing the cause of regional integration and a single market have not dampened his fire for the cause.
Admitting to members of the local business community that his fight for acceptance of the CARICOM Single Market & Economy (CSME) was bruising during his term of office, he told them Barbados’ economic survival rested with an active and expanded CSME.
Arthur, now Leader of the Opposition, was addressing the Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s September meeting at Hilton Barbados on Wednesday.
“I cannot conceive of a programme of growth and development for Barbados outside the context of a strong regional economy.”
According to the St Peter representative, Barbados was “a vulnerable economy . . . in the sense that unlike many of the economies in the Caribbean, there is not a lot of large multinational corporation investment in most of our sectors”. (GE)