Amidst increasing criticism over delays in the implementation of key policies, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) yesterday insisted that the body remains crucial to regional development.CARICOM’s Secretary General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque,wholesale nfl jerseys, also admitted that a deadline for the CARICOM Single Market andCARICOM’s Secretary General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocqueEconomy (CSME), which was launched in 2006, is not likely to be met by 2015.CARICOM, a 15-member regional body, had been hoping to have a fully functional single economy and a single currency by 2015.He blamed the delay in CARICOM setting itself too many ambitious targets.“That 2015 target will not be met. We made then, as we continue to make now, the same mistake we made in 1989 at Grand Anse. We set ourselves over-ambitious and unrealistic targets; targets, which by their very nature, doom us to apparent failure when they are not met.”The diplomat made the disclosures yesterday during a business luncheon hosted by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association Limited (GMSA) at the Regency Hotel, Hadfield Street.In addition to several business executives, there were diplomats from the major embassies also present.The Secretary-General was at the time updating the gathering on the state of affairs at CARICOM.LaRocque, who took over at the helm from Edwin Carrington, noted that CARICOM is at a crossroad in its integration arrangements.He insisted that the body remains a critical vehicle of intra-regional trade.“In 2010, the last year for which complete trade data is available, Guyana exported US$118.3M worth of goods to the rest of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). This ranked it third in the Community with respect to exports for that year to member states and was $6M more than in 2009.”The principal exports were rice,Cheap Jerseys, fish and sugar,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, in that order. These exports to the CARICOM market amounted to 13 per cent of Guyana’s total exports.“While three products dominate these exports, it nonetheless demonstrates that the CARICOM market is valuable to Guyana; and given Guyana’s vast economic and business potential, I suggest to you that with sustained focused attention, these exports can grow. The CARICOM market continues to be a business opportunity for the Guyana private sector.”It is the same for other states which are part of CARICOM.ExpansionLaRocque admitted that CARICOM’s work on its integration program has come under fire.“Stakeholders across the region all see the hope and promise of CARICOM but are troubled by the seeming inability to bring to fruition the plans, programmes and projects that have been enunciated and announced over the years, and the decisions that wait to be implemented.”Business execs,China Jerseys Free Shipping, diplomats and others during GMSA Luncheon yesterday.CSME, with a market of some six million, could begin to expand its horizons to enhance competitiveness to enter the global environment, the official said.“The market will grow to 15 million as soon as Haiti, a member of CARICOM, puts the necessary requirements in place to participate in the CSME.”According to the Ambassador, for CSME to be successful, CARICOM has to do business differently.Referring to a report by independent consultants on the Restructuring of the Secretariat, which had called CARICOM to take a different approach, LaRocque opined that the time may be right for change.“They also contend that we need to be more realistic about the constraints posed by geography, (spread as we are across the Caribbean Sea), lack of size physically and in respect of markets. Importantly,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, the report, which will be considered by Heads of Government at next week’s Inter-Sessional Meeting in Suriname, also indicates it is essential for the region to decide on what it can and cannot do.”The current mode of trying to get everything done at the same time is inefficient and contributes to gridlock, he said.In the initiatives to integrate the region, the CARICOM Secretariat has been at the centre of the process, “But the Secretariat must also acknowledge its part in the failure of the Community to achieve such measures as hassle free travel and free movement of skilled Community nationals. These are issues that tug at the heart of CARICOM’s people and, for many it is the measure of successful integration.”Customs harmonisationThe private sector must play a crucial role, in the CARICOM process, the diplomat insisted and stressed that issues like job creation are critical.“An important element is the ease with which you should be able to conduct your business throughout the Region. A study conducted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) found that