The CARICOM Secretariat in collaboration with Ministry of Commerce, Business Development, Investment and Consumer Affairs will be executing a Student Mission project entitled, "Students Engaging the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) through Field Promotion." The objective of this project is to mobilize and train tertiary students in identifying and developing responses to opportunities offered by the CSME. This project is part of the CSME Public Education Programme funded under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF).

Under this project, 19 students and 1 CARICOM Youth Ambassador (CYA) visits another CSME Member State to gain practical experience and knowledge of how the CSME regimes are being implemented. In this initial phase, Dominican students will be visiting Saint Lucia from April 13th - 17th, 2015 to engage in a series of visits to public and private sector agencies involved in the implementation and execution of the CSME regimes.

The Dominican students have been engaged in a series of preparatory activities for the mission to Saint Lucia through CSME sensitization sessions with Dominica's Ministry of Trade and other relevant agencies. These sessions will assist the students to assess how the CSME is operating in Dominica so that they can compare with those processes in Saint Lucia during their visit. Upon conclusion of the mission, the students are expected to prepare a comprehensive report on the CSME from their experience in Saint Lucia and to sensitize their peers on what they have learned.

At the end of the project it is expected that 240 students from CARICOM tertiary institutions would have been exposed to the CSME. This is the second time the project is being rolled out having engaged 283 students between 2008 and 2009 also with the assistance of the European Union. It is intended for other missions to be facilitated in September/October this year and in 2016.

For further information on this activity please contact Ms. Lydia Dariah, Information Officer at 468- 4219/484-1464 or Mrs. Aisha Jn Baptiste Sealy, CSME Focal Point at 468-4207/285-6741.