“Trinidad and Tobago on Friday signed the Protocol to Amend Article 83 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

This important Protocol clarifies the flexibility afforded to COTED (Council for Trade and Economic Development) in its administration of the Common External Tariff, which is a fundamental element of the CARICOM Single Market.

The Protocol was opened for signature by the Conference of Heads of Government at its Twenty-Fifth Inter-sessional Meeting, held in St Vincent and the Grenadines in March 2014 and will be provisionally applied upon signature by all thirteen (13) parties to the Revised Treaty.

Trinidad and Tobago’s signature brings to eleven (11) the number of countries that have signed the Protocol. The Protocol was signed by the Honourable Winston Dookeran, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, during the Thirty-Fifth Meeting of the Community Council of Ministers, held at the CARICOM Headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana.”