Business communities across CARICOM are likely to be waiting with bated breath to determine whether last month’s establishment of a new CARICOM Manufacturers Association (CMA) will serve as an eventual precursor to the building of sturdier bridges among member countries of the regional movement in the areas of manufacturing and trade.
Last November’s announcement that six regional domestic manufacturers associations – the Barbados Manufacturers’ Association (BMA), Dominica Manufacturers’ Association (DMA), Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA), St Lucia Manufacturers’ Association (SLMA), and Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA), had agreed to kickstart an initiative that could grow over time, raises the likelihood of an additional regional mechanism to address some of the troublesome intra-regional business and trade-related issues believed to be linked in large measure to policies designed to protect domestic industries.
