Two public meetings on Caricom have now taken place, with a third due this week.

A good deal of discussion has taken place on the cultural and sporting advantages of closer links with the organisation and the Caribbean as a whole. There is no dispute that those links have value, not only for Bermudians with close family connections with the Caribbean, but for all Bermudians.

It is a truism that Bermuda’s culture is diverse, and draws influences from Britain and Europe, North America, the Azores and the Caribbean region. We should celebrate all of those elements and no region or influence should be left out.

Bermuda has “special relationships” with Britain, the US, the Azores and so on. There is no reason why Bermuda should not have equally close relationships with the islands with which we have close links, including St. Kitts, Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica, the Bahamas and British overseas territories like the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands, with whom Bermuda probably has the closest historical ties.

It is fair to say that Bermuda already has close links with many of those countries, along with Caribbean sporting, cultural, trade, business and labour organisations.

What is being proposed now is those links to be formalised through associate membership of Caricom. It is suggested that Bermuda would have wider access to other Caribbean organisations and would also be eligible for advice and assistance from world bodies who deal with Caricom as a grouping as opposed to with individual nations.

Although Transport Minister Ewart Brown has stated that the decision to join Caricom is not a fait accompli, it seems clear that the Government is in favour of the move and its intention, in Dr. Brown’s words, is to build consensus, not to decide against Caricom, regardless of objections. Indeed, objections to Caricom are generally dealt with by saying that Bermuda can opt out of what it does not like, leaving open the question of why the Island would want to join.

The big questions of what Bermuda would gain which i does not have already have not been answered.

The only tangible benefit, and it is a benefit, is the possibility of reduced fees for the University of the West Indies and the possibility that some of UWI’s departments would be based at the Bermuda College, with the College apparently becoming part of the university. But it is not clear if that is in the best interests of the College or Bermuda.

Beyond that, the primary advantages are no more than possibilities. It is possible that Bermuda could become the base for a Caribbean stock exchange. It is possible that it could become a Caribbean e-commerce hub.

But none of these ideas are certain, and it is quite possible that Bermuda could, and possibly should, do these things anyway.

Caricom is at its heart a trade bloc and even if Bermuda does opt out of most of the trade blocs requirements, joining Caricom could alter its relationships with its other more important trading partners, including the United States. The idea that Bermuda is better served, like Switzerland, by serving as a neutral go-between with different trade blocs, has not been fully explored and should be.

In the end, joining Caricom comes down to costs. The basic bill, it would appear, is $98,000 a year. But costs have a habit of mostly going up, not down and so far, it is not clear that Bermuda would get a return even on its original investment.