MONTSERRAT SIGNS PROTOCOL II, SURINAME MAKES SIGNATURE EFFECTIVE

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana)  Protocol II of the Treaty establishing the Caribbean Community, the Treaty of Chaguaramas, can now be provisionally applied in Member States of the Caribbean Community. This is now possible as Montserrat signed the Protocol and Suriname made its signature of the Protocol effective on 4 July, 1998, the final day of the 19th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. The venue for the Meeting was Castries, Saint Lucia.

An official from Montserrat said this Member State's signature of the Protocol was a demonstration of Montserrat's commitment to the regional integration movement. It was pointed out that the application of the Protocol in Montserrat was intimately tied to the disruption of life due to volcanic activity.

Suriname signed the Protocol at the 18^th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in Montego Bay, Jamaica in 1997 but national application could not take place until it was ratified by the Suriname National Assembly.

Protocol II addresses the Right of Establishment, the Right to Provide Services and the Right to Move Capital by any CARICOM national in the Community which has been defined as the Common Market.

At the Saint Lucia Meeting Heads of Government signed Protocol III and Protocol V. All Member States have already signed Protocol I. The Treaty of Chaguaramas is being amended by way of Protocols of which there are nine.