Minister of Financial Services Ryan Pinder has revealed that CARICOM was "about 80 to 90 percent complete" with the negotiations of the revised Caribbean-Canada Trade Agreement (CARIBCAN) three weeks after the original deadline.
A new two month-long window has been outlined to complete the deal.
Speaking with Guardian Business, Pinder confirmed that the negotiations are in their final stages, but could not provide an estimated date of completion.
"The last couple of elements have risen to the high political level," said Pinder.
"We at the heads of state meeting concluded that there would be a...committee to engage the prime minister of Canada on trying to reach the final conclusions and to give us a two-month time frame to get to those final pieces."
The original 1986 agreement, which specifically covered trade in goods, expired on July 1.
Bahamian exports to Canada, including lobster, salt and plastics, totaled nearly $23 million in 2013.
The continued delays are partially attributed to substantial changes within the agreement, which will now cover trade in services and investments, in addition to trade in goods. The region's 2008 Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union is seen as a precedent for the terms of the new deal.
CARICOM and Canada had been required to renegotiate the CARIBCAN as it conflicted the World Trade Organization's (WTO) statutes on non-discrimination among trade partners. However, The Bahamas is unique within CARICOM as the only non-WTO member.
Pinder additionally addressed The Bahamas' ongoing accession process to WTO member status, stating that The Bahamas had received "tremendous support" from the WTO during a recent conference in Geneva.
"We're finalizing some of the meaty parts of...our reports and evaluations that we have to provide our member states, which should be completed in very short order as well. So I would say that we're still moving according to plan on our WTO accession process," said Pinder.

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