JAMAICA became the 8th Caricom country to sign the agreement to establish the Caricom Single Market, which will come into effect on Sunday.

Prime Minister PJ Patterson yesterday signed the legal instrument at his residence on Shortwood Road in Kingston, Jamaica, a statement form Jamaica House said. Safiya Ali, senior legal officer at the Caricom Secretariat assisted the prime minister with the signing.

After the signing, Patterson said 2006 would be "a great year" in advancing Caribbean integration, noting that it had been a long journey since the signing of the original Treaty of Chaguaramas on July 4, 1973. Patterson, who was witness to that signing as Jamaica's trade minister, said that yesterday's signing was very special to him.

"We have seen a great evolution in the integration movement since that signing with regional leaders such as Eric Gairy, Forbes Burnham, Michael Manley and Eric Williams and later the Grande Anse Declaration in 1989 which introduced a new phase in the movement toward the Single Market," the statement quoted Patterson saying.

Patterson noted that the single market was not just for big corporate conglomerates, but a skilled people as well. He added that Jamaican entertainers had shown the way by taking their music to the region.

Justifying the need for the Single Market, Patterson said that it was required in order to cope with globalisation. He said that Caricom and the European Union were the longest serving common market areas noting that countries have been forced into forming strong regional blocs.

The other Caribbean countries that have already signed the agreement include Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St.Lucia, Grenada, Guyana and Belize.

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