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Addressing Movement Of Labour From The Caribbean

24 March 2005

"Improving the training capacity of developing countries will lead to better trained and qualified workers in the recipient country where their skills will be beneficial to particular services or industries."

More than 100 representatives from the health and trade ministries of the Commonwealth Caribbean countries, as well as from the Governments of Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, will attend a meeting in Barbados on 30-31 March 2005 on transnational movement of labour and services.

The meeting taking place in St Michaels is titled 'Training and Temporary Movement -- Towards a Trade and Development Approach'. It is organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in co-operation with the Centre for International Services, University of the West Indies; CARICOM Secretariat; the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery; the Pan-American Health Organisation; and the World Bank. The meeting will also involve representatives of other regional and international organisations.

The event aims to promote regulated and mutually beneficial access to the markets of developed countries under Mode IV of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services. This involves the entry and temporary stay of foreign nationals in another country such as accountants, doctors, nurses and teachers, to provide services. The meeting will discuss a proposal on the provision of assistance to developing countries to improve their training capacity in services. This approach will help to reverse the deterioration of key domestic sectors resulting from the loss of human resources. 

Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Director of the Economic Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, said this initiative is beneficial to both the developed and developing countries. "Improving the training capacity of developing countries will lead to better trained and qualified workers in the recipient country where their skills will be beneficial to particular services or industries. This will increase the supply of skilled labour to developed countries and will ease the shortages they are experiencing due to their ageing population. It will also offer employment to job-seekers in search of employment opportunities abroad and increase the flow of remittances to the developing countries. The skills they gain along the way will on their return, contribute to the level of expertise in their own homeland." 

A study on the feasibility of this approach to mitigate the impact of the loss of human resources in East and Southern Africa is currently being undertaken.

 

CNIS - the Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 227 23 March 2005