Grenada, along with the OECS countries of St. Vincent & the Grenadines and St. Lucia, has recently concluded discussions on the idea of a possible economic and political integration with Trinidad and Tobago. As a matter of fact, the four regional countries signed an agreement to achieve economic integration by the year 2011 and move towards political integration by 2013. According to Trinidad’s Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, the four leaders are expected to ratify a memorandum of understanding on the matter by year end. Prime Minister Tillman Thomas and his Trinidadian counterpart are expected to travel around the OECS sometime next week with a view to getting other regional leaders on board with this latest attempt at integration. In a recent visit to Trinidad earlier on this week, Prime Minister Thomas discussed a number of issues with Prime Minister Manning, among them was the need to sort out the maritime boundary between the two countries, which will be an important step in enabling Grenada to commence exploitation of its oil and natural gas reserves.