Suriname’s Minister of Transport, Communication and Tourism, Raymond Landveld, has underscored the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market as one of the region’s most significant goals.
He made a case for pushing forward with the Single Market during a ‘fireside chat’ at the CANTO Connect 2026 Conference in Port of Spain on Tuesday.
“This is a discussion that we need to have. What’s happening with the CARICOM Single Market? Let’s not go to the economy yet but the single market because one thing I learnt from UNCTAD is that countries that are rich now, their neighbours are their biggest trading partners.”
Minister Landveld said his experience working with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in New York points to the need for the CSME.
“That’s the lesson that I think we should take from what’s happening in the international trading system, that we should be doing business and trading more with each other first and therefore coming up with systems that would cater to the community. So this collaboration and cooperation is something that we support, and that Suriname really wants to be part of because I think it will serve us all in the end.”
Director of CANTO, Mark Reynolds, supported the Minister, saying that his experience working with Caribbean telecommunications bodies has shown that partnering with them is beneficial.
“Those are the types of technologies that actually are developing within the Caribbean, where we don’t really have to, we don’t have to look further than our neighbour to get the skills.”
Minister Landveld and Mr. Reynolds were discussing ‘Building the Digital Workforce for a High Growth Future.’