A Partnership Approach to Caribbean Convergence

Abstract

A main issue at the Caribbean Growth Forum (CGF) Launch Event (June 18-19, 2012) was to explore how growth and job creation in the Caribbean can be promoted through analytical work and inclusive dialogue that would generate practical and implementable solutions. This paper explores this question by casting the issues generated at this event into an analytical framework of a partnership approach as a regional pathway to Caribbean convergence, which is qualitatively different from the past four decades of the CARICOM integration process. As the paper argues, Caribbean convergence is not about abandoning CARICOM, but trying to be innovative. The task at hand is in designing convergence action plan to harmonize local needs with the regional needs, and to align the logic of politics with the logic of economics. Accordingly, this paper provides some starting points for an action plan (or a roadmap) in this direction to the case of entrepreneurship in the Caribbean.