Mar. 21--PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- After 16 years in the works, a group of small Caribbean nations has finally kicked off their Single Market, a plan aimed to meld their economies and help them compete on the world stage.

But the version launched in January still has far to go, analysts say, to meet the goal of free movement of goods, services, people and capital among member states.

Business leaders say governments need to do more to ease operations, like having the same Customs forms and the same safety rules in all the nations.

"This is a step, but not enough," said Tim Nafziger, who runs Trinidad's multimedia company Media 21.

South Florida, the gateway for Caribbean business, is watching closely. Executives hope a successful single market can boost Caribbean economies, resulting in more business with Florida.

But questions remain over how well one market can work amid delays and infighting.

"They need to better define it," said Pamela Rollins, vice president of business development for Fort Lauderdale-based cargo airline Amerijet International Inc., which specializes in the Caribbean. "They can't agree to agree."

The Caribbeanis taking its cue from Europe, where larger neighbors decided to join together to pool resources, unite markets and increase their global competitiveness.

The Caribbean Community group known as Caricom, made up of mainly of ex-British colonies such as Trinidad & Tobago, adopted the idea in 1989.

Officials said the plan was urgent because the small, mainly island nations were too tiny to compete separately: St. Kitts-Nevis, for instance, has only 50,000 residents. And even together, the group remains a minnow in global terms, with just 6 million people combined -- about the population of South Florida.

Still, progress has been slow -- amid fears that larger countries will overpower smaller ones and that governments would lose some of their control.

Just six of the bigger countries have launched the initiative: Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, Suriname and Belize. Six smaller ones said they'll join later, perhaps in June: St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent & The Grenadines.

"The big question is: Is it too little, too late?" said David Lewis, vice president of consultancy Manchester Trade Ltd. in Washington, D.C., who is from the Caribbean. "I think in great part, yes."

For trade in goods, a Caribbean single market doesn't change much. Most goods traded among members already sell duty-free. And except for Trinidad exporting steel, bottles and other goods to neighbors, there's relative little commerce between members anyway. Most goods come from outside, especially the United States.

The big innovation instead comes in free movement of capital and people.

No longer is a work visa needed, for instance, for certain categories of people -- including managers, entrepreneurs, skilled labor and musicians -- to relocate for business among member nations.

That should make it easier for companies operating across the Caribbean to move staff around, increasing opportunities for professionals and entrepreneurs and possibly reducing a "brain drain" to the United States or other larger markets, officials said.

It also should cut costs for consumers. Someone in higher-rate Trinidad, for example, now can bring in a contractor for a job on their home from lower-rate Guyana, said Jerry Narace, the ambassador who leads the single market project for Trinidad & Tobago.

Ideally, the single market also should attract more capital from overseas because companies in any member nation should be able to expand easily into any another -- as if they were in one country.

"For larger companies looking to go into the region, you can now look at Caricom as one market of 6 million people," said Peter Dickenson Philips, founder of Miami-based Zagada Markets, which studies call centers. "That's an important factor adding to the 'sell' of the Caribbean for near-shore operations."

Yet numerous hurdles remain.

For example, St. Kitts-Nevis still requires an "alien landholding license" for any foreign person or company who wants to own property or become a shareholder or director in a company, which complicates business expansion.

Plus, smaller nations are seeking more aid before joining -- worried their micro-businesses may be swamped by companies in larger nations, which have lower costs due to larger volume production. The small islands want extra money to train affected workers and build infrastructure.

The nations must work out those snags before they can deepen ties further to take the next step in the ambitious plan -- a Single Economy scheduled for 2008, with common economic policies.

"The ultimate thing would be to have a common currency and a political union," said Trinidad's ambassador Narace. "But that's utopia."