Manning reveals regional integration experiment

WITH the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) just a few short years away from implementation, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, has alluded to another experiment in regional integration with the development of a new political arrangement between four Caribbean nations.

However, the Prime Minister was quick to point out that the new arrangement was not intended as a replacement for the existing Caricom system.   Speaking to reporters at the commencement ceremony of the San Fernando General Hospital’s new wing, Manning said the new “political co-operation” — comprising Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and TT — would not see any loss of national sovereignty.

However, the Prime Minister said that with the impending advent of the FTAA agreement, it was incumbent on regional governments to deepen trade agreements among each other. Manning also scoffed at and dismissed UNC leader Basdeo Panday’s claim that the Opposition party was still in support of the implementation of the regional Caribbean Court of Justice as long as local constitutional reform was also being addressed.