FOREIGN Minister, Dr. Rudy Insanally says the Government is preparing for the eventual introduction of machine-readable passports to meet new security requirements in other countries.

"The whole region will have to go towards machine-readable passports and the Government is...preparing itself for that day when that will become the norm, if not the law," he told reporters Thursday.

Hosting his first press conference for 2004 at his Takuba Lodge, Georgetown conference room, Insanally said the issue was discussed at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) intersessional meeting in St Lucia late last year.

He said regional leaders are conscious of the need to enter the electronic age now, otherwise their citizens might suffer.

In what Insanally described as a "preemptive effort", most governments in the region will now be ordering machine-readable passports to enable citizens to travel feely and satisfy the requirements of various countries.

But despite the new need for enhanced security measures, every CARICOM country has to honour its obligation to ensuring free movement of Caribbean citizens under the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.

"...we must see how best we can address the security dilemma without defaulting on obligations for free travel, Insanally said.

He noted that there should be no reason why someone from Europe gets freer entry into the Caribbean than someone from the Caribbean - an issue President Bharrat Jagdeo has been pushing.

Insanally stressed that CARICOM states have to honour their obligations as best they could and move fully to implementing whatever domestic legislation to make free movement possible.