| More Complaints About Caricom Visa |
By BBC - Caribbean
February 6, 2007
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| There have been more complaints about the Caricom visas from Jamaican businessmen. |
The Gleaner newspaper has quoted one business leader as saying it's going to cost them more to do business, and it's going ruffle the feathers of people they do business with.
For example businessmen in in Panama, with whom Jamaica has strong trade relations. They're now required to |
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| get the Caricom visa to travel to Jamaica and other caricom countries, from now till the middle of May 15th, after the cricket World Cup. |
| The visa costs $100 US. For some it's not so much the cost as the hassle. Many only heard of it for the first time when they tried to make their travel plans. |
| One benefit of the new arrangement is that once a visa holder is within the caricom single space--- any of the 10 countries that have world cup matches--- they are treated as if they're within one country and travelling around becomes easier. |
| But it's getting to that single space that's causing some headache for some. |
| The Barbados deputy prime minister Mia Mottley who's in charge of the visa project admits it's a contentious issue, but says it's being introduced to ensure easy but secure travel for Caribbean nationals and visitors alike. |
| “The mere hosting of this event places us in a position where people may chose to carry out their own agenda against our background,” Ms Mottley said. |
| “We do not live in a world that is as pure as it was before. The dislocation to small states would be far greater than if there was an incident in a large city. The Caribbean does not have the mechanism to recover in the short team should there be an incident." |
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