that i deliver these opening remarks, and i look forward to the fruitful discussions and insights that will emerge over the course of this conference. let us continue to push the boundaries of what is possible, to inform policy, address challenges, and ensure that caribbean research remains at the forefront of global economic thought. thank you. 2 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches

control of risk on a group - wide basis. in that environment the rules and guidelines involved would be the same even though the responsibility for oversight may be different. the pace of implementation has been challenged recently by ongoing efforts of individual jurisdictions to reform their own national frameworks. for example trinidad has just passed a new fia and this would have been pre - occupying their attention. ) global and regional crises do not wait however until we are ready. recent new developments necessitate an acceleration of the pace of such work and ongoing events now spur us to reevaluate mechanisms to prepare regional approaches to responding to such problems. regional and national responses as we in the region collectively grapple with the current financial crisis, originating in the trinidad market we will continue to strengthen our own regulatory and supervisory frameworks at the national level. what we must not assume, is that because it happened in trinidad it must happen here. within recent times, several regional jurisdictions have had financial sector assessment program reviews performed by the imf, or aml / cft mutual evaluations by the caribbean financial action task force. in the barbados case, banking has traditionally received good ratings and findings were uneven as it relates to regulation in other sectors. the need for increased co - operation given the levels of financial integration globally, and notably, the growing systemic relevance of cross - border corporate groups, regulators are aware that they must look to enhance their cross - border relations particularly with respect to crisis management. at the last meeting of the caribbean regional central bank governors a decision was taken that the caribbean group of bank supervisors ( cgbs ) should develop a management protocol to deal with events like the one currently being experienced. the cgbs provided an outline of what such a protocol should include, but it remains a work in process and has been overtaken by events. the plan is to be submitted to governors for their approval in may 2009. one of the key lessons of the global crisis stems from the fact that in an increasingly marketbased and interconnected financial system, disturbances are likely to affect fundamental market mechanisms, such as the distribution of liquidity. this has cross - border implications. an adequate appreciation of these dynamics requires a systemic perspective for the analysis of financial stability which normally lies with the central banks, but clearly requires close interaction between central banks and other regulatory agencies. over the past few weeks as the barbados council of regulators met twice within the last 3 months – most recently last week – to discuss areas of mutual concern and to