(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)     A meeting to discuss the development of a complete online registry among 12 Member States participating in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) will be held in Saint Lucia from 8 – 10 December 2014. The three-day meeting which was convened by CARICOM Secretariat, is funded by  the European Union under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) as part of the CSME and Economic Integration Programme.

Registrars of Companies across the region are considering the proposal for the harmonization of online registries in the CSME participating Member States. This harmonization would be facilitated by the web interface and interoperability of the respective systems allowing users access to information from participating Member States. The objective of the initiative is for interested parties to be able to register businesses/companies online across Member States thereby increasing cross-border economic activity. The other issues that are down for discussion are the software and hardware requirements of the systems to be installed as well as training for data entry operators and other relevant users in the registries.   

The beneficiary Member States under the project are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Alfa XP Europe Limited is the company undertaking the consultancy. The meeting ends on Thursday.