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CARICOM gets support for economic link with Latin America

Dec 30, 2009 News

Chairman of the CARICOM Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFOR), Dr Kenneth Baugh, who is also the Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister of Jamaica, says he believes economic co-operation between CARICOM and Latin America is definitely achievable.
“I totally agree with Dr Baugh because if European countries with a total population of some half a billion, which speak several languages including English, French, German, Dutch, and others can merge, why cannot countries that speak only three languages — English, Spanish and Portuguese — be engaged in deeper business relations?” asked one official.
A move in this regard has already been made, with the Dominican Republic applying for membership of CARICOM, and Jamaica being accepted as a member of the Rio Group, which was founded in Brazil in 1986.
It is also reported that Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America, is now working with MERCOSUR, the largest common market of the south, and the twin island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is doing fairly good trade with Latin America.
Moreover, having Jamaica as the venue for the hemispheric conference of 34 Foreign Affairs Ministers was also a good move for CARICOM countries to be more involved in trade with their Spanish and Portuguese speaking friends.
Baugh suggested that CARICOM countries should learn Spanish and retool their operations in order to take advantage of opportunities when they become available.
Belize is the only English-speaking country in Central America, but most of the residents in that agricultural country speak Spanish because of their Mexican, Guatemalan, and Honduran neighbours, and for that matter thousands of them live and work in that country, which is a active member of CARICOM. In fact, last January, Belize hosted the CARICOM Heads of Government Conference, when its Prime Minister, Dean Barrow took over chairmanship of the regional community.
There is a long-standing border dispute between Belize and Guatemala, but there is a relatively good relationship between the peoples of the two countries, and it is expected that the dispute will soon be resolved as the claim between Guyana and Suriname, as well as the Venezuela and the Co-operative Republic.
There are 15 members of CARICOM, including French-speaking Haiti, which joined in 2002 and Dutch-speaking Suriname, which became a member in 1995.
The largest CARICOM state is Jamaica, which has a population of more than two million, while the smallest member is Montserrat, which is a British Overseas Dependent Territory, with a population of less than five thousand, since the majority of the inhabitants fled because of volcano eruption in the tiny island.
Although the Dominican Republic is not a full member of CARICOM, it is nevertheless a member of CARIFORUM.
There are five associate members of CARICOM — all British dependent territories — Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos, while Aruba, Colombia, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, have observer status.

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