Thompson

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

The new Barbados Government says it has no intention of reneging on a decision to host the signing ceremony for the new Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Caribbean Community countries even though it has some concerns about the accord.

Prime Minister David Thompson, who in ending an official visit to Trinidad, yesterday, said that his administration had given the assurance to the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery that it would host the signing ceremony scheduled for April.

But he told reporters that the accord, hammered out before the December 31, 2007 deadline, contained some matters that his administration wanted sorted out before he attends the CARICOM inter-sessional summit in The Bahamas from March 6-7.