NASSAU, The Bahamas (CMC):

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of government yesterday opened their 19th intersessional summit with the governments of Barbados and the Bahamas restating their strong commitment to regional integration, in the face of a strong warning from the CARICOM secretary general that time was not on the region's side.

"Time is not on our side if we are to safeguard our security," said Carrington in his address to the opening of the two-day meeting taking place at the Sheraton Cable Beach Resort in Nassau. "Time is not on our side if we are to achieve the goal of a single market and economy in the time frame that you as heads of government have set and time is not on our side if we are to achieve the community for all, as you heads of government so hopefully scripted in your declaration at Needham Point that you adopted last July in Barbados."

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Foremost on the agenda of the Bahamas meeting are issues of crime, security and trade.

David Thompson, Prime Minister of Barbados, also expressed hope that the two-day meeting would signal a "watershed" in the development of the region and that its outcome would be deemed "fruitful".

"We need to take fresh guard knowing where each of us stands on the critical issues and to breathe a new sense of focus and purpose to our regional movement," he said.

"Our agenda must be that of the collective populations that we represent, and we need to each sign on philosophically to a precise flight plan for getting to our destination," said Thompson, who is the outgoing chairman of CARICOM.

Meantime, incoming chairman Hubert Ingraham said that while The Bahamas currently does not participate in the single economy arrangements, it still wants to play its part.