The Seventh Ministerial Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development, gets underway tomorrow, 8^th October, 1999 at the Secretariat's Headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana.

Ministers and officials will deliberate on several issues of importance to the Region, foremost among them being the status of moves towards the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. In this regard they will focus on the progress towards the implementation of Protocols VIII and IX, the last of the instruments which seek to amend the Treaty of Chaguaramas.

Protocol VIII is intended to deal with the issue of disputes settlement, and Protocol IX addresses Rules of Competition to govern the conduct of enterprises so as to ensure healthy competition and consumer welfare.

A range of matters relating to the trade in goods in the Region, including the status of the implementation of the final phase of the Programme for the Reduction of the Common External Tariff will also be featured.

External trade and economic issues will be examined including developments relating to bananas, a Trade Development Agreement between CARICOM and the Republic of Cuba, a report on CARICOM/US meetings, and CARICOM's relations with Chile, and Colombia.

Matters will also be addressed in the areas of services, agriculture, industry and sustainable development.

The session begins tomorrow at 9:30am, and the chairman will be the Hon. Hilroy Humphreys, Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Business, Antigua and Barbuda.