Dr. Denzil L. Douglas has given the assurance that the sub-regional integration movement would not run counter to the similar path being pursued by the Caribbean Community.

Addressing delegates to the 27th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) said the nations of the sub-regional integration movement are already reaping great benefits from pooling administrative resources in relation to judicial matters, central banking and financial sector supervision, pharmaceutical procurement, civil aviation, foreign representation, and telecommunications regulation.

"As we increase our participation in the CSME and take up the challenge of globalisation, the inefficiencies in our relatively small and disparate administrative structures will become even more glaring, and more and more areas for cooperation and centralisation will be identified in the countries of the OECS," said Dr. Douglas, who pointed out that it is already quite evident the economies of scale can be achieved in areas such as Crime and Security, Customs Administration, the regulation of Public Utilities, Legal Drafting, Trade Negotiations and Investment Promotion.

The St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister and Chairman of the regional integration movement for the next six months said that the OECS Economic Union would establish a framework for greater cooperation in all of these areas, and would thereby enable the member countries to carry out the functions of Government even more effectively without jeopardising the fiscal stability of the countries of the Caribbean region.

~~Adz:Right~~Dr. Douglas said it was not the intention that the integration of the OECS would run counter to the integration movement in the wider Caribbean.

"Indeed, as we accelerate and deepen the integration process in the OECS, it is our aim that the OECS Union would be seamlessly integrated into the Caribbean Single Market and Economy. In other words, it is our intention that the OECS Economic Union Treaty would give due recognition to the provisions of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, and that in creating the Economic Union we would be able to build on the legal framework already established in respect of the Single Market and Economy," said Prime Minister Douglas.

He said that for this objective to be achieved, it is necessary for the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas to accommodate the need for OECS countries to establish special relationships with each other; and to give due recognition to the OECS Economic Union as an entity that will contribute immeasurably to the attainment of the goals of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy.

Prime Minister Douglas said it was in this context that the people of St.

Vincent and the Grenadines renewed the mandate of the distinguished Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonzales who secured a second term to continue his own pioneering efforts of the OECS Economic Union.

"It is also in this context that the people of Montserrat reposed their confidence in their new Chief Minister, Hon. Dr. Lowell Lewis to secure for Montserrat the necessary legal instruments that would allow her to be fully integrated as a member of the CSME," said the new CARICOM Chairman.