INFOR CARIBE

 Newsletter of the Caribbean Workers Council CWC

                      THE CARIBBEAN

By José Gómez Cerda

INTEGRATION PROCESS

In the 1960s, most Caribbean islands obtained their independence, after having been English colonies. Thus, fourteen new independent states were created in the region.

CARICOM

In 1968, the CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY – CARICOM was created by the new English countries, viz: Antigua, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts, St Lucia, Surinam, St Vincent and Trinidad.

ACP

CARICOM immediately became part and parcel of the Yaoundé (Cameroon, Africa) Convention, which constituted the Association of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, better known as the ACP countries.

ASSOCIATION OF CARIBBEAN STATES (ACS)

The Convention establishing the ACS was signed on 24 July 1994 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, with the aim of promoting consultation, cooperation and concerted action among all the countries of the Caribbean.

The ACS is composed of 25 member states and three associated members. Moreover, eight non-independent countries qualify for the associated member’s status.

The member states are: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.

The associate members are: Aruba, France (on behalf of French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique) and the Netherlands Antilles.

Functions

The aims of the ACS are enshrined in the Convention and are based on the following: strengthening the regional cooperation and integration process with a view to creating an enhanced economic space in the region; preserving the environmental integrity of the Caribbean Sea which is regarded as the common patrimony of the peoples of the region; and promoting the sustainable development of the Greater Caribbean. Its current focal areas are trade, transport, sustainable tourism and natural disasters.

Organisation

The main organs of the Association are the Ministerial Council and the Secretariat. There are Special Committees on: Trade Development and External Economic Relations; Sustainable Tourism; Natural Disasters; and Budget and Administration.  There is also a Council of National Representatives of the Special Fund responsible for overseeing resource mobilization efforts and project development.

The Third Extraordinary Meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Association of Caribbean States, held in Panama on 12th February 2004, unanimously elected Dr Rubén Silié Valdez of the Dominican Republic as the third ACS Secretary General. Dr Silié succeeds Professor Norman Girvan.

CARIFORUM

After Haiti and the Dominican Republic had joined the Lomé Convention (countries that were not part of CARICOM at the time), a regional entity uniting these two countries and the CARICOM member states was established. This new body is the Forum of the Caribbean, or CARIFORUM.

The heads of state decided to assemble in August 1998, within the framework not only of CARICOM but also of CARIFORUM, with the fifteen Lomé Convention signatory countries and to invite the President of Cuba as an observer.

It was the first time ever all the heads of state from the Caribbean met, to sign the Agreement establishing the free trade zone with CARICOM.

This entity was created to coordinate the allocation and monitoring of available European Development Fund (EDF) resources for the purpose of financing regional projects in the Caribbean Region, which fall within the framework of the Lomé IV Convention.

Its main aims are:

·         To create a free trade zone for goods and services between the countries

·         To build the region’s capacity to promote national, intraregional and foreign investments in the signatory countries

·         To open and liberalise the air and maritime transport services markets

·         To promote intraregional tourism

·         To build the region’s negotiation capacity and power towards the United States, the European Union and the World Trade Organisations by means of an intraregional coordination of extraregional policies and strategies.

To these functions has to be added the one of setting up a forum for communication, dialogue and rapprochement, whether among the member countries or between them and the European Union.

The Republic of Haiti still has to ratify its membership of CARICOM.

The Dominican Republic is no member of this association, but it has signed with it a free trade agreement, which took effect on 1 December 2001.

The Republic of Cuba formally integrated into the ACP group in December 2000. It also maintains excellent relations with CARICOM and recently became part of CARIFORUM. In this capacity Cuba participates in the political dialogue with the EU within the framework of the group of ACP countries, though it has not yet signed the Cotonou Agreement.

The Caribbean has at its disposal a framework that is particularly favourable to the political dialogue with the European Union. This has facilitated the definition of policies and the identification of the specific needs of the Caribbean region associated with the ACP Group, thanks to the participation of the member states in several joint institutions.

These institutions are:

·         The ACP-EU Council of Ministers

·         The Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

The meetings of these bodies have to be added to the summits of the ACP-EU heads of state and government and to the meetings of their respective civil societies and private sectors.

                Schedule of  Activities

E-MAIL

ctccaribe@yahoo.es

carisform@hotmail.com