OECS Discusses Constitutional Reforms And Economic Union In BVI

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

13 October 2004

Professor A. Ralph Carnegie, consultant for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), concluded a three-day visit to the British Virgin Islands last week during which the issue of an economic union within the sub-region was discussed with various government figures.

These discussions focused mainly on constitutional issues as they relate to the economic union and were of a similar nature to those taking place elsewhere within the organisation, Caribbean Net News reported.

Member States of the OECS, which include Antigua and Barbuda, BVI, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, are facing a major shake-up in the way they conduct their affairs with the coming of two free trade initiatives – the Caricom Single Market Economy (CSME) and the Free Trade Area of The Americas (FTAA).

In preparation for the creation of an economic union in the region, the OECS Authority this year commissioned a technical committee to draft a new organisational treaty to take account of these new circumstances. The constitutional reforms now taking place are expected to support this initiative.

Professor A. Ralph Carnegie is Executive Director of the Caribbean Law Institute Centre at the University of the West Indies in Barbados.

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