The Integration Movement in the Caribbean at Crossroads: Towards a New Approach of Integration

The Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL) has inaugurated a Working Papers Series with the publication of a study by Uziel Nogueira, the Institute's Economist. Entitled "The Integration Movement in the Caribbean at the Crossroads: Towards a New Approach to Integration", the study opens with an overview of the movement towards integration among the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean. It continues with an analysis of the integration process during this decade, with particular reference to the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), the North American Free Trade Agreement (FTAA), the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The third section examines economic reforms and trade liberalization in the countries of the region, stressing the function of the common external tariff, the commercial reform program and the role of the exchange rate in the trade regime. The Working Paper concludes that the integration process overseen by CARICOM has reached its limits, notwithstanding the attempt to widen the process with the creation of the ACS.