BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Plans for the imple-mentation of the Carib-bean Community (CARI-COM) Single Economy by 2008 are still on track, says Dr. Edward Green, deputy secretary general of the regional grouping. Regional heads will be meeting in November to hold talks on a document which sets out a road map for achieving the single economy, The Nation's Sunday Sun newspaper reported yesterday.

Green said a task force was commissioned to look into the issue of a single currency for the region, which was one of the essential components of the plan.

"One of the ways that we could move towards the achievement of this would not necessarily be by expecting all countries in the first instance to be in the common currency regulation, but perhaps six or seven countries," Green said.

He pointed to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States' (OECS) common currency union, which has maintained stability for the sub-region over the past 15 years, saying this was a model for the CARICOM single economy.

"It has not really solved the problem of debt for some of the countries, but certainly it has protected the countries from severe economic shock," he said.

Chaguaramas treaty revised

The single economy is the second plank of plans to create a unified economic space within the region. The first phase came into operation earlier this year with the symbolic signing of the single market aspect of the CSME, which allows the free movement of good, services, capital and labour across member territories.

The inauguration of the CARI-COM Single Market came out of the 1989 meeting of heads of govern-ment in Grand Anse, Grenada, where the decision was made to further deepen the integration process by establishing the CSME. In order to achieve the CSME, the Treaty of Chaguaramas had to be revisited and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas was signed in 2002.

As part of the arrangement, each CARICOM member state has been given a specific area of focus with Guyana having responsibility for agriculture; St. Lucia justice and governance; St. Kitts and Nevis health; Jamaica has external trade relations negotiations; Trinidad and Tobago has security; Belize has responsibility for sustainable development, which includes environmental concerns; Antigua and Barbuda has responsibility for services, and Barbados has lead responsibility for the CSME.

The final cap on the economic integration process is set for 2008 with the full establishment of the CSME.