36 years of unity celebrated today as region observes CARICOM Day

Jul 06, 2009 News

Today the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will observe CARICOM Day on the heels of the recently concluded 30th Heads of Government meeting, where new initiatives were fashioned and reaffirmations to previous commitments were offered.

Some of the CARICOM Heads at the recently concluded 30th Meeting of Heads

CARICOM was born out of a need to deepen the regional integration movement that had started in 1963 under the Caribbean Free Trade Area and came into being in 1973, with the four more developed countries, Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica, signing the Treaty of Chaguaramas.
In a 1974 Heads of Government meeting in St. Lucia, the Less Developed Countries and Belize followed suite. The move came at a turbulent period in international economic history.
Under the CARICOM agreement, member states are able to trade freely with each other while receiving protection from goods coming outside CARICOM under the Common External Tariff (CET).
Outside of trade, CARICOM’s co-operation in non-economic fields is hailed as a success story of the regional integration movement.
The University of the West Indies and the West Indies Cricket Team are two of the more prominent examples of functional co-operation among CARICOM countries.
At the recently concluded meeting, the Heads issued a declaration wherein they were deliberating in the context of a turbulent global environment, 20 years after the landmark meeting at Grand Anse, Grenada reaffirm the commitment to deepen the integration process and strengthen the Caribbean Community as declared by previous Caribbean leaders.
The grouping of heads in their declaration also acknowledged the significant challenges encountered in implementing the work programme as originally envisaged, especially in the current environment.
“We are ever alert to the profoundly changed and constantly evolving global environment which demands continuous review of policies and plans, including revisions of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas in order to ensure that the Community’s aims and objectives remain relevant and fulfill the needs of our Peoples.”
The heads in their declaration also emphasised the role of functional co-operation as a cross cutting mechanism for development of a Community for all, and in this regard, accept the need for the consolidation of the roles of the regional institutions.
It was also emphasised that functional co-operation played a significant role as a cross-cutting mechanism and a driver of regional integration for development of a Community for all, and in this regard the heads accepted the need for the consolidation of the roles of the regional institutions.
“We renew our determination to build on and strengthen the four pillars of the Community Economic Integration, Foreign Policy Co-ordination, Security Co-operation and Human and Social Development.”
In seeking to achieve this goal, the Heads have agreed to adopt the Strategic Plan for Regional Development Establishment and Operation of the Single Economy and the establishment and Operation of a Single Domestic Space, including the removal of the requirements for passports for CARICOM nationals traveling within the Community among a host of other measures.
“We, the Heads of Government at this 30th Conference, unequivocally pledge to commit ourselves to deepening regional integration and recommit to the objectives of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas as the means of providing a viable, prosperous and secure Community for all.”