BELMOPAN, Belize (CMC):

Caribbean tax administrators met in Belize yesterday amid concerns about the lack of adequate cooperation and coordination of tax policies to increase economic activity, employment and growth across the region.

Financial Secretary Joseph Wright, addressing the 20th General Assembly and Technical Conference of the Caribbean Organisation of Tax Administrators (COTA) on Monday night, said it was important for the region's countries to move quickly towards the establishment of a Single Market since "it is only by becoming a larger and more integrated economic space that we can successfully compete on a global scale and withstand the buffeting of these ill winds".

"It is only by joining together to produce more and to trade more that we can overcome these challenges and begin to reap the benefits of a Single Economy," said Wright who deputised for Prime Minister Dean Barrow.