One specific focus is on advancing arrangements to operationalise the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) which is integral for the functioning of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

Much of the debate about the CCJ, which is to have original jurisdiction in dealing with intra-regional disputes arising from interpretation of the CARICOM Treaty, has often been focused on the independence from the region's political directorate in the appointment of the judges and the financial resources to make the institution effective in its operations.

Unfortunately, critics or opponents of the CCJ frequently choose to ignore the fact that with the sole exception of the President of this appellate court of last resort, all the judges, who will be drawn from the Caribbean and the wider 54-member Commonwealth, are to be appointed by an independent Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC).

The President himself could only be appointed with no less than three fourths of the votes of the Community's heads of government and that itself will be based on recommendations from the RJLSC.

To ensure independent funding, free from political influence, a special Trust Fund is being created to be administered possibly by the Caribbean Development Bank which has been mandated to raise some US$100 million to enable long-term financing.

But against the backdrop of persisting reservations about the CCJ, especially among those in various CARICOM jurisdictions who remain wedded to maintaining the Privy Council in London as their appellate court of last resort, the Community Secretariat last week helped in organising a two-day conference in Georgetown of Chief Magistrates of the region to sensitise them to various aspects of the functioning of the CCJ.

Among special presenters at the Conference of Chief Magistrates were the Chancellor of the Guyana Judiciary, Desiree Bernard and the Chief Justice of Belize, Abdulai Conteh.

They both pointed to the value and strengths in having such a regional appellate institution in place, while at the same time underscoring the importance of its independence and integrity in responding to the challenges to be faced.

After the mandate given by the CARICOM heads of government at their Georgetown Summit in July last year, and the meetings that have been taking place since, both at the level of the Community Secretariat and the CDB here in Barbados, the expectation is that the CARICOM leaders will have something new to report when they meet in Port-of-Spain for their two-day meeting starting on February 14.

Of course, precise information on bringing the CCJ on board is also related to the launching of the CSME itself.

With two years more before the scheduled inauguration of the hemispheric-wide Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a line has to be drawn on talk versus action to make the CCJ a reality.

(Reprinted from yesterday's `Daily Nation' of Barbados)