CARICOM Summit for Integration and against Crime Begins
The 26th Summit of the Caribbean Comunity opens in Castries St. Lucia on Sunday with renewed efforts to step up integration, discuss failed sugar deal with Europe and how to wipe out increasing scourges such as crime.

CARICOM groups the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad-Tobago.

The meeting was preceded by a gathering of Trade ministers from all 15 member countries of the Community, focused on means to speed up implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

This controversial issue has been included in the sessions of the Summit under the chairmanship of Barbados´ prime minister Owen Artur, who is also in charge of putting into motion the trade bloc.

Arthur will table a report on the current state of the regional initiative and will be responsible to resume the study to establish a Regional Development Fund.

The agenda of this 26th annual session of CARICOM includes a debate on the situation in Haiti, whose crisis has escalated after a coup d´Etat launched against constitutional president Jean Bertrand Aristide, with elections scheduled for October and November this year.

Other issues of interest are the promotion of initiatives to curb crime, a scourge that is increasing in several states in the area, specially in Jamaica.

Another bitter discussion will center on Europe´s rebuffal of petitions by Caribbean nations for a better sugar deal. The European Commission has proposed to slash all preferential quotas for Caribbean, Africa and Pacific countries starting in 2006.