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Caribbean Ready to Form Single Market

Paramaribo, Jun 15 (Prensa Latina) Patrick Manning, president of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said on Thursday that conditions are arranged for the region's integration in a unique market at the end of June.

"Topics related to the Regional Development Fund have been resolved, and the way is cleared for the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States to form a unique market this month," Manning pointed out.

Manning, also prime minister of Trinidad & Tobago, said that the main conflicts for operation of the Fund were solved in a three-day meeting in Barbados.

This is considered an indispensable step for many Caribbean countries for their participation in the Caribbean Unique Market.

The Regional Development Fund was established to give economic, financial or technical support to countries, zones or sectors at economic disadvantage.

This week Trinidad & Tobago committed to donate 29 million dollars, nine million more than announced at the beginning of preparations for the Fund.

The Fund was officially opened in January, with participation of Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Surinam and Trinidad & Tobago, while Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will do so in the next days.

Of the 15 CARICOM countries, only Bahamas, Haiti and Montserrat are temporarily excluded from the regional integration mechanism