No timetable for CARICOM Passport in Jamaica

Caribbean Community passport deadline derailed

published: Sunday October 14, 2007

Source Jamaica Gleaner

Jamaica's deadline to introduce the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) passports by year end has been derailed, and no timetable has been set regarding when the country will join other member states in implementing the passport regime.

The introduction of the regional travel document should have taken place earlier this year, but was postponed because of preparations for Cricket World Cup, which the region hosted.

In a previous interview, Robert Miller, head of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had said the new documents would have come into effect by December 31.

But this will not be so, according to Gilbert Scott, permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security, which has responsibility for the Passport Office.

"A new passport is the least of my priorities right now," Scott tells The Sunday Gleaner when pressed as to why the date was no longer feasible. "I have other important things to deal with."
He, however, noted that while, Jamaica was committed to meeting its regional obligations, the matter of the regional passport was not at the top of the ministry's agenda.

"Our primary interest here is the security of our borders and the security of travel documents," states Scott. "The CARICOM passport in of itself does not guarantee or enhance the security of the document and our concern right now is to move to a more secure document, and that takes time and research," he adds.

Regionalism

The CARICOM passport is a document, which is being issued in accordance with an agreed format for intra-regional and extra-regional travel.

Heads of government agreed to the issuance of this passport by member countries as a symbol of regionalism. The introduction of the CARICOM passport is also one of the measures to promote hassle-free travel for CARICOM nationals.

Suriname was the first country to issue the CARICOM passport on January 7, 2005, followed by St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts later that year.