Nelson Bascome, the Cabinet Minister tasked with writing the Government's position paper on joining the Caribbean Community as an associate member, is at last holding public meetings on the subject.

These have been a long time coming, and opponents and supporters of the plans should attend in order to give Mr. Bascome and his committee a clear sense of where the public stands and what it needs to know.

These meetings need to be held because the vast majority of the public remains in the dark about the pros and cons of joining Caricom, and have not received much in the way of information about how it would truly benefit the Island.

These need to be enunciated clearly by Mr. Bascome and his committee, along with an honest accounting of the drawbacks, including the costs.

Mr. Bascome needs to answer several specific questions about joining the organisation. These are:

What are the tangible benefits of joining Caricom?

To what degree will Caricom membership (either associate or full) hamper Bermuda's ability, either on its own, or through the United Kingdom, to negotiate agreements with foreign powers?

If Bermuda can opt out of Caricom agreements on a common market, a joint foreign policy and free movement of labour, what is the point of joining?

What business advantages will Bermuda companies gain from joining Caricom that they do not have already in terms of expanding into the Caribbean?