Caribbean Community

Caribbean Community Caribische Gemeenschap  (Dutch) Communauté des Antilles  (French) Comunidad del Caribe  (Spanish)
Dark green: Full CARICOM members. Lime green: Associate CARICOM members. Pistachio: Observers.
Seat of Secretariat		Georgetown, Guyana
Official language		English
Type		Supranational organisation
Member states		15 full members Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Dominica Grenada Guyana Haiti Jamaica Montserrat St Kitts & Nevis Saint Lucia St Vincent & Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago 5 associates Anguilla Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Turks & Caicos Islands 8 observers Aruba Colombia Curaçao Dominican Republic Mexico Puerto Rico Sint Maarten Venezuela
Leaders
-	Secretary-General	Irwin LaRocque
-	Chairman	Michel Martelly
Establishment
-	Treaty of Chaguaramas	4 July 1973
-	Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas	2001
Area
-	Total	458,480 km2 177,020 sq mi
Population
-	2010 estimate	16,743,693
-	Density	34.8/km2 90/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2012 estimate
-	Total	$107.82 billion
-	Per capita	$6,439
GDP (nominal)		2010 estimate
-	Total	$64,771 billion (65)
-	Per capita	$8,116 (67)
HDI (2012)		0.719 high
Website caricom.org

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is an organisation of 15 Caribbean nations and dependencies. CARICOM's main purposes are to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, to ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and to coordinate foreign policy. Its major activities involve coordinating economic policies and development planning; devising and instituting special projects for the less-developed countries within its jurisdiction; operating as a regional single market for many of its members (Caricom Single Market); and handling regional trade disputes. The secretariat headquarters is based in Georgetown, Guyana.

Since the establishment of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) by the mainly English-speaking parts of the Caribbean region, CARICOM has become multilingual in practice with the addition of Dutch speaking-Suriname on 4 July 1995 and French- (and Haitian Kreyòl-) speaking Haiti on 2 July 2002. Furthermore, it was suggested that Spanish should also become a working language. In July 2012, CARICOM announced that they were considering making French and Dutch official languages.

In 2001, the heads of government signed a Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas thus clearing the way for the transformation of the idea for a Common Market aspect of CARICOM into instead a Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy. Part of the revised treaty among member states includes the establishment and implementation of the Caribbean Court of Justice. Since 2013 the CARICOM-bloc along with the Dominican Republic is tied to the European Commission via an Economic Partnership Agreements known as CARIFORUM signed in 2008. The treaty grants all members of the European Union and CARIFORUM equal rights in terms of trade and investment. Within the agreement under Article 234, the European Court of Justice also carries dispute resolution mechanisms between CARIFORUM and the European Union states.

History

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM), originally the Caribbean Community and Common Market, was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas which came into effect on 1 August 1973. The first four signatories were Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago.

CARICOM superseded the 1965–1972 Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), which had been organised to provide a continued economic linkage between the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean following the dissolution of the West Indies Federation which lasted from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962.

A Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) was signed by the CARICOM Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community on 5 July 2001 at their Twenty-Second Meeting of the Conference in Nassau, The Bahamas.

Membership

See also: Member states of the Caribbean Community

Currently CARICOM has 15 full members, 5 associate members and 8 observers. All of the associate members are British overseas territories, and it is currently not established what the role of the associate members will be. The observers are states which engage in at least one of CARICOM's technical committees.

CARICOM Members

Status	Name	Join date	Notes
Full member	Antigua and Barbuda'	4 July 1974
	Bahamas	4 July 1983	Not part of customs union
	Barbados	1 August 1973
	Belize	1 May 1974
	Dominica	1 May 1974
	Grenada	1 May 1974
	Guyana	1 August 1973
	Haiti	2 July 2002	Provisional membership on 4 July 1998
	Jamaica	1 August 1973
	Montserrat	1 May 1974	British overseas territory
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	26 July 1974	Joined as Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla
	Saint Lucia	1 May 1974
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1 May 1974
	Suriname	4 July 1995
	Trinidad and Tobago	1 August 1973
Associate	Anguilla	July 1999	British overseas territory
	Bermuda	2 July 2003	British overseas territory
	British Virgin Islands	July 1991	British overseas territory
	Cayman Islands	16 May 2002	British overseas territory
	Turks and Caicos Islands	July 1991	British overseas territory
Observer	Aruba		Country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
	Colombia
	Curaçao		Country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
	Dominican Republic
	Mexico
	Puerto Rico		Commonwealth of the USA
	Sint Maarten		Country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
	Venezuela

Anguilla

In July 1999, Anguilla once again became involved with CARICOM when it gained associate membership. Before this, Anguilla had briefly been a part of CARICOM (1974–1980) as a constituent of the full member state of Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla.

Dominican Republic

In 2005 the Foreign Minister of the Dominican Republic proposed for the second time that the government of the Dominican Republic wished to obtain full membership status in CARICOM. However, due to the sheer size of the Dominican Republic's economy and population size in comparison with the current CARICOM states and coupled with the Dominican Republic's checkered history of foreign policy solidarity with the CARICOM states it is unclear whether the CARICOM states will unanimously vote to admit the Dominican Republic as a full member into the organisation. CARICOM has been working at great pains in trying to integrate with Haiti. It has been proposed that CARICOM may deepen ties with the Dominican Republic through the auspice of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) instead, which is an organisation that stops just short of the Single market and economy which underpins CARICOM. Currently, the Dominican Republic has an unratified free trade agreement (from 2001) with CARICOM. It cooperates with CARICOM (since 1992) under an umbrella organisation, CARIFORUM, an economic pact between CARICOM and the Dominican Republic with the EU. The Dominican Republic originally became an Observer of CARICOM in 1982 and in 1991 it had presented CARICOM with a request for full membership. Within the EPA between the region and the European Commission, the Dominican Republic is given means for dispute resolution with CARICOM member-states. Under Article 234, the European Court of Justice also carries dispute resolution mechanisms between CARIFORUM and the European Union states. This is particularly useful to the Dominican Republic which is not a member of the Caribbean Court of Justice and therefore cannot use the CCJ for dispute resolution with states of CARICOM.

French Caribbean

France administers several territories in the Caribbean that are not associated with CARICOM, and are instead part of the European Union: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin, Saint Barthélemy and French Guiana. The CARICOM-DR-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) may provide these areas with access to CARICOM markets. It was announced during summer of 2012 that Martinique, a CARICOM observer, was on its way to become an Associate Member. The Foreign Minister of France, Laurent Fabius, agreed to Martinique being an associate member of CARICOM.^{[citation needed]}

Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the Netherlands

Aruba is an observer of CARICOM, as was the Netherlands Antilles before its dissolution in 2010. No official report has been published on the eligibility for observer status of the Caribbean countries Curaçao and Sint Maarten and the 3 special municipalities of the Netherlands formed by the split.

The Netherlands Antilles had applied for the status of associate membership in 2005, and both Curaçao and Sint Maarten launched applications to become associate members in CARICOM after their secession.

United States Virgin Islands

In 2007, the U.S. Virgin Islands government announced it would begin seeking ties with CARICOM. At the time It was not clear what membership status the USVI would obtain should they join CARICOM with the most likely possibility being observer status, considering fellow U.S. Caribbean territory Puerto Rico's current observer status. In 2012, it was confirmed by the USVI Commissioner of Tourism, Beverly Nicholson-Doty, that the U.S. Virgin Islands government has been lobbying for observer status within CARICOM.

Relationship to other supranational Caribbean organisations

Supranational Caribbean Organisations

Relations

Haiti invasion

In March 2004, tensions became strained between member-state Haiti and the rest of the Caribbean Community bloc. Democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide phoned some of the other 14 CARICOM heads of government and stated that he had been kidnapped by France and the United States and taken out of the country. CARICOM announced that no democratically elected government in CARICOM should have its leader deposed. The 14 other heads of government sought to have Aristide visit Jamaica and share his account of events with them. This move to have Jean-Bertrand Aristide flown from Africa to Jamaica infuriated the unelected interim Prime Minister, Gérard Latortue who then announced he would be taking steps to remove Haiti from CARICOM. The CARICOM heads then announced they would be holding a vote on whether to suspend the recognition of Latortue before he could vote on Haiti leaving CARICOM. This occurred and Haitian officials became suspended partaking in the councils of CARICOM. This did not stop Latortue, who announced that he would continue a part of his plan to suspend Haiti from CARICOM. Haiti's membership had been effectively suspended from 29 February 2004 through early June 2006. Following the democratic election of Haitian President René Préval, he gave the opening address at the organisation's Council of Ministers meeting in July.

Statistics

See also: Trade bloc

Population and economic statistics of full members

Member States	Land area (km2)	Population	GDP (PPP) Millions USD	GDP Per Capita USD (2012)	HDI (2012)
CARICOM	432,510	16,743,693	107,815	6,439	0.719
Antigua & Barbuda	442.6	89,018	1,535	17,500	0.760
Bahamas	10,010	316,182	11,040	31,300	0.794
Barbados	430	287,733	7,091	25,500	0.825
Belize	22,806	327,719	2,896	8,400	0.702
Dominica	751	73,126	1,035	14,600	0.745
Grenada	344	109,011	1,471	14,100	0.770
Guyana	196,849	741,908	6,164	8,000	0.636
Haiti	27,560	9,801,664	13,130	1,300	0.456
Jamaica	10,831	2,889,187	25,180	9,100	0.730
Montserrat	102	5,164	0,043	8,500	n/d
Saint Kitts and Nevis	261	50,726	0,890	15,500	0.745
Saint Lucia	606	162,178	2,234	13,200	0.725
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	389	103,537	1,301	11,900	0.733
Suriname	156,000	560,157	6,685	12,300	0.684
Trinidad and Tobago	5,128	1,226,383	27,120	20,400	0.760

Population and economic statistics of associate members

Member	Land area (km2)	Population	GDP (PPP) Millions USD	GDP Per Capita USD
Anguilla	91	13,477	0.108	8,800
Bermuda	54	67,837	5,085	91,477
British Virgin Islands	151	24,000	0.840	38,500
Cayman Islands	264	56,000	1,939	43,800
Turks and Caicos Islands	948	36,600	0.845	6,400

Population and economic statistics of observers

Member	Land area	Population	GDP (PPP) Millions USD	GDP Per Capita USD
Aruba	180	106,000	2,400	21,800
Colombia	1,109,104	44,928,970	396,579	8,400
Curaçao	444	142,180	2,914	20,567
Dominican Republic	48,320	9,523,209	76,304	8,570
Mexico	1,943,945	111,211,789	1,548,007	14,560
Puerto Rico (2010)	8,870	3,791,913	96.300	24,229
Sint Maarten	34	37,429	0.400	11,400
Venezuela	882,050	28,199,825	358,623	12,785

Under Article 4 the CARICOM organisation breaks its 15 member states into two groups: Less Developed Countries (LDCs) and More Developed Countries (MDCs).

The countries of CARICOM which are designated as Less Developed Countries (LDCs) are:

• Antigua & Barbuda
• Belize
• Commonwealth of Dominica
• Grenada
• Republic of Haiti
• Montserrat
• Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis
• St. Lucia
• St. Vincent & the Grenadines

The countries of CARICOM which are designated as More Developed Countries (MDCs) are:

• Commonwealth of the Bahamas
• Barbados
• Co-operative Republic of Guyana
• Jamaica
• Republic of Suriname
• Republic of Trinidad & Tobago

Organisational structure

Structures comprised by the overall Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Secretariat

• Secretariat of the Caribbean Community, The term of office of the Secretary-General is 5 years, which may be renewed. (Chief Administrative Organ)
• Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, the CARICOM Secretary General (Chief Executive) handles Foreign and Community Relations.
• Deputy Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, handles Human and Social Development.
• General Counsel of the Caribbean Community, handles Trade and Economic Integration.

The goal statement of the CARICOM Secretariat is:

To provide dynamic leadership and service, in partnership with Community institutions and Groups, toward the attainment of a viable, internationally competitive and sustainable Community, with improved quality of life for all.

Chairmanship

The post of Chairman (Head of CARICOM) is held in rotation by the regional Heads of State (for the republics) and Heads of Government (for the realms) of CARICOM's 15 member states.

CARICOM Heads of Government

CARICOM contains a quasi-Cabinet of the individual Heads of Government. These heads are given specific specialised portfolios of responsibility for overall regional development and integration.

Caribbean Community organs and bodies

Principal organs

Organ	Description
CARICOM Heads of Government	Consisting of the various heads of Government from each member state
Standing Committee of Ministers	Ministerial responsibilities for specific areas, for example the Standing Committee of Ministers responsible for Health will consist of Ministers of Health from each member state

Community Council

The Council consists of Ministers responsible for Community Affairs and any other Minister designated by the Member States in their absolute discretion. It is one of the principal organs (the other being the Conference of the Heads of Government) and is supported by four other organs and three bodies.

Secondary organs

Secondary organ	Abbreviation
Council for Finance and Planning	COFAP
Council for Foreign and Community Relations	COFCOR
Council for Human and Social Development	COHSOD
Council for Trade and Economic Development	COTED

Bodies

Body	Description
Legal Affairs Committee	provides legal advice to the organs and bodies of the Community
Budget Committee	examines the draft budget and work programme of the Secretariat and submits recommendations to the Community Council.
Committee of the Central Bank Governors	provides recommendations to the COFAP on monetary and financial matters.

Caribbean Community institutions

The twenty three designated institutions of CARICOM are as follows:

Institutions

Institution	Abbreviation
Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency	CDERA
Caribbean Meteorological Institute	CMI
Caribbean Meteorological Organisation	CMO
Caribbean Food Corporation	CFC
Caribbean Environment Health Institute	CEHI
Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute	CARDI
Caribbean Regional Centre for the Education and training of Animal Health and Veterinary Public Health Assistants	REPAHA
Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians	ACCP
Caribbean Centre for Development Administration	CARICAD
Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute	CFNI
CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security	IMPACS
Caribbean Examinations Council	CXC
CARICOM Single Market and Economy	CSME
Caribbean Court of Justice	CCJ
CARICOM Competition Commission	CCC
Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism	CRFM
Caribbean Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality	CROSQ
Caribbean Telecommunications Union	CTU
Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre	CCCCC
Caribbean Organisation of Tax Administrators	COTA
Council of Legal Education	CLE
Caribbean Aviation Safety and Securing Oversight System	CASSOS
Caribbean Regional Information and Translation Institute	CRITI

The Caribbean Court of Justice will act in its "original jurisdiction", as settlement unit for disputes on the functioning of the Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy (CSME). Additionally the states of CARICOM voted to supplement original jurisdiction with "appellate jurisdiction" under this the former colonies of the United Kingdom will have effectively replaced the Privy Council in London, United Kingdom with the CCJ.^{[citation needed]}

The CCJ is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The majority of member states however, continue to utilize the Privy Council as their final appellate court and three member states do not use the CCJ for either its original jurisdiction or its appellate jurisdiction because they have either not signed the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (the Bahamas and Haiti) or are a current British colony (Montserrat).

Associate institutions

The five designated associate institutions of CARICOM are as follows:

Associate institutions

Associate institution	Abbreviation
Caribbean Development Bank	CDB
University of Guyana	UG
University of the West Indies	UWI
Caribbean Law Institute / Caribbean Law Institute Centre	CLI / CLIC
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States	OECS
West Indies Cricket Board	WICB

Projects

Single market and economy

  CARICOM members part of CSM

  CARICOM members not part of CSM

  CARICOM associate members

Three countries—Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago—had originally set 5 January 2005 as the date of signing the agreement relating to the (CSME). The ceremony had then been rescheduled to coincide with the 19 February 2005 inauguration of the new CARICOM-headquarters building in Georgetown, Guyana, but this was later postponed after a ruling by the London Privy council caused alarm to several Caribbean countries.

The prospect was that ten of the remaining twelve CARICOM countries would join the CSME by the end of 2005. The Bahamas and Haiti were not expected to be a part of the new economic arrangement at that time. The CARICOM Secretariat maintains frequent contact with another organisation named the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), which represents seven Full members and two Associate members of CARICOM in the Eastern Caribbean. Many of the OECS countries are seeking to maintain themselves as a micro-economic grouping within CARICOM.

The CARICOM Single Market and Economy treaty finally went into effect on 1 January 2006, with Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago as the first full members. On 3 July 2006, the total membership was brought up to twelve when Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines became full members. The British overseas territory of Montserrat is seeking permission from the United Kingdom to become a part of the single market; Haiti will not join the market initially because of its difficult internal political situation; and the Bahamas will not join because of local opposition to a provision that allows skilled workers to move more easily among nations.

Common passport

Main article: Caribbean passport

Cover of a Trinidad and Tobago Machine Readable (and Caricom) Passport issued in 2007

  Members with common passport implemented

  Members without common passport

  Associate members

As of early 2009 twelve Member States have introduced CARICOM passports. These states are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. CARICOM members yet to issue the common passports are Bahamas, Montserrat and Haiti. Citizens of Montserrat are citizens of the United Kingdom, so it is unlikely that the common passport will be introduced there.

The CARICOM passport creates awareness that CARICOM nationals are nationals of the Community, as well as a specific country.

Caribbean Exchange Network (CXN)

The proposal for a regional trading platform or stock exchange was initially raised in 1989, and then again in the 1990s during ongoing discussions for the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, but it was not realized. In 2006 the idea was again brought up in a regional stock market conference. At the conference it was noted that at the time the region contained several small separate Caribbean stock exchanges including that of Bahamas, Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean (itself a regional securities exchange), Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad & Tobago, each with relatively high transaction costs, low liquidity, a relatively small number of listed companies, and a few securities dominating trading on an exchange, while legislation and trading rules varied across the region. It was argued that the best way to improve liquidity was through a common trading platform approach, with CARICOM-wide connectivity using state-of-the-art technology connecting local brokers (intermediaries) in the multiple stock markets through a single network. This would create a fair and well-informed market for financial securities, and ultimately an internationally competitive market. By interconnecting the stock exchanges of the region a single regional capital market would be created. It would also avoid one of the main hurdles against having a single Caribbean Stock Exchange, that being the fact that the established Exchanges were not likely to make themselves voluntarily redundant. It would also widen the scope of operations of all the regional exchanges as each participating exchange would give their brokers access to the companies listed on all the others' boards.

Work continued on the establishment of the system, now dubbed the Caribbean Exchange Network (CXN) with initial hopes that it could be implemented by late 2007 with approximately 120 listed securities. However that timetable was dependent on how quickly securities regulators in Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados could sign off on the enabling documents and agreements on which they have asked for clarifications. By December 2007 regulators were still mulling over the documents and the hope was for full implementation in 2008. The April 3, 2008 start-up date was missed as a result of takeover activity in the region's capital markets (involving companies such as WIBISCO, FirstCaribbean, Barbados Farms, the takeover bidding process for Barbados Shipping & Trading by Trinidadian industrial giant Neal & Massy and Royal Bank of Canada's buyout of RBTT) and delay on the part of regulators. An agreement in 2008 to have the Bank of Nova Scotia as the settlement bank for regional stock market trades also later fell through. Instead of a single settlement bank, each member dealer will now have to make arrangement to get their transaction settled either with their local national central bank or any other commercial bank of choice Up to 2008, the Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago stock exchanges had collectively invested US$150,000 on the project.

All outstanding issues were finally settled in January 2011 and the CXN got the approval of the various regional regulators and made its operational debut. The CXN trading platform and support infrastructure had been in place since 2007. It is now expected that trading on the platform will begin in 2012. The CXN will allow brokers in each jurisdiction to access all the stock within the region from their desks, irrespective of where they are. But in the absence of a monetary union for Caricom they must transact the business in the currency of the home market of the listed security — for example, a Jamaican buying a TT stock would have to settle in TT dollars, with the security being held in the TT central securities depository.

The initial participants in the CXN are the Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago stock exchanges with other jurisdictions are expected to join over time. Modeled off the NOREX alliance, the CXN is governed by the Regional Caribbean Exchanges Network Agreement (to which the Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago stock exchanges are parties), Bank Settlement Service Agreement for the Caribbean Exchanges Network, Trading Access Agreement, CXN Broker-Client Agreement, and Deed of Accession. The CXN is aimed at providing benefits for consumers and firms in terms of investment, operating costs, products and services and through reduction in administrative burden. It also aims to pull together the small fragmented markets in CARICOM; improve liquidity; enhance price discovery; encourage greater participation by Issuers, Intermediaries, and Investors; foster the growth of the domestic financial services sector; provide savers with greater opportunities to protect themselves against inflation; provide an additional channel for encouraging and mobilizing domestic savings; increase the overall efficiency of investment; and help reduce corporate dependence on borrowing and improve the gearing of the regional corporate sector. Trading by broker participants of the CXN takes place on the common state-of-the-art trading platform which gives the brokers access to an electronic order book for each company listed on the participant exchanges. Intermediaries will log into a participant exchange’s trading system and via an electronic gateway, place order(s) on that exchange. Settlement by brokers on CXN takes place in the common clearing and settlement system. This system gives brokers access to real-time client account information, electronic share book and other reporting facilities. The clearance and settlement platform is tightly-coupled with the trading system which facilitates real-time inventory and account verification. In this tightly-coupled environment, when an order entry occurs in the trading system, the settlement system will check to ensure that the participant inventory stipulated in the order exists. The result of this is that in order to sell shares in a particular jurisdiction the shares must be held in the depository of that jurisdiction. The three original participating exchanges already facilitate this process of transfer for cross-listed securities called Inter-CSD movements.

Travel card

Main article: CARIPASS

At the 28th CARICOM Heads of Government Conference in Barbados it was agreed to implement a CARICOM travel card that will be issued to every CARICOM national except those on the Community's watch list. An implementation plan for the document will be put together and submitted to the Heads at the next inter-sessional meeting to be held in September. The card will virtually maintain the ‘single domestic space’ and holders will not need a passport, during inter-community travel. The card will also allow a CARICOM national an automatic six-month stay in any territory within the bloc. It is not expected to affect the security of the member countries, as any holder will be deported if he or she breaks the law. Similar to the "Pass Cards" available in other parts of the world, the new card would be the size of a credit card and will feature facial and fingerprinting biometrics – so upon arrival at an airport, travellers can swipe the card in the machine which will open the barrier allowing them to walk through. In addition to being available to all CARICOM national, the card would be available to expatriates who have legal status in a member country. Their card would be time-bound in a way that is linked exclusively to the time of their legal status. The cost of acquiring the card is to yet be determined, but the country leaders have agreed that the proceeds would go towards offsetting the cost of enhanced security at the ports.

Past projects

Special Visa and the Single Domestic Space in 2006-07

During the July 2006 CARICOM Summit, the various leaders reached an agreement on measures to ensure hassle-free movement for visitors to the 2007 Cricket World Cup, as well intelligence sharing and cooperation for the security of the event. People were originally to be able to travel amongst the nine host countries and Dominica between 15 January 2007 and 15 May 2007 using a single CARICOM visa. However, during a meeting in Trinidad and Tobago on 29 December 2006, the Heads of Government decided to push back the creation of the Single Domestic Space to 1 February 2007 in response to representation from tourism ministers and others involved in the tourism industry.

Cruise ship passengers not staying more than 24 hours at any of the 10 Caribbean countries were issued with a CARICOM day pass. However, those who were staying on cruise ships, dubbed "floating hotels" for the duration of the games, were required to obtain a visa unless their countries fell within those that are exempted. Visa abolition agreements between some of the ten Caribbean states concerned and countries whose citizens were then required to obtain CARICOM visas during the Cricket World Cup provided for the suspension of the visa-free policy in such cases.

During the three and a half month period from February to May, the ten Caribbean countries became a "single domestic space" in which travellers only had their passport stamped and had to submit completed entry and departure forms at the first port and country of entry. The entry and departure forms were also standardised for all ten countries. When continuing travel throughout the Single Domestic Space, persons (including those using the common visa) were not required to have their documents processed to clear customs and immigration and did not need to have their passports stamped, but still needed to travel with them. Once passengers arrived at the Immigration Department Desk at the first port of entry, they were provided with a blue CARICOM wristband that identified them for hassle free movement through the single domestic space.

When the single domestic space came to an end on 15 May 2007 nearly 45,000 visas had been issued.

In February 2007 the CARICOM Heads of Government agreed to set up a Task Force to recommend a revised CARICOM Special Visa for the future, making any changes necessary from the experiences of the 3 month Single Domestic Space.

Proposed Re-Introduction

In February 2013, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Aviation Task Force (a committee established to facilitate air transportation into and throughout the Caribbean and to enhance airlift) recommended a review of visa regimes in member countries in order to improve the visitor experience following a recent meeting held in Antigua to review issues affecting intra-regional travel and make recommendations for increasing consumer demand.

The task force also recommended to its membership a system similar to the Europe’s Schengen visa programme where visitors who are cleared at the initial port of entry can continue travelling seamlessly throughout most of the European Union.

The task force agreed that full clearance at the first port of entry was necessary to ensure an improved cross regional experience by visitors and agreed that the sub-regional grouping, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, (OECS) should be used as a model for such a single visa regime. The OECS is in the process of establishing a single economic space and is expected to implement full clearance at the first point of entry into the sub-group. The CTO Aviation Task Force agreed that this best practice would be reviewed after its implementation for possible replication across the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) region and beyond.

In addition to a single visa regime, the Task Force recommended a standardized entry and exit card– otherwise called immigration or ED card - across the Caribbean. This it is said, would help reduce airlines’ costs and improve customer service at Caribbean airports. Again, the OECS, which is expected to introduce the use of one common ED card, will be used as a model.

Other recommendations include an analysis of the impact of taxes and fees on the cost of regional air travel and a more holistic approach towards air travel revenue; including a possible ticket tax rebate when a traveller starts and ends the journey in another destination of the same domestic space. The task force also identified an urgent need to end secondary screening for intra-regional passengers who are in transit since the current practice diminishes the overall travellers’ experience.

Also on the Aviation Task Force agenda were issues related to the CARICOM Multilateral Air Services Agreement, open skies, and other regulations and restrictions facing airlines serving the Caribbean.

CARICOM Traveller's Cheques Facility (1980-1993)

The original Treaty of Chaguaramas had prescribed that member states explore ways of harmonizing their monetary, exchange rate and payments policies in the interest of smooth functioning of the Common Market. Up to the late 1970s the various CARICOM countries established a compensation procedure to favour the use of the member states currencies. The procedure was aimed at ensuring monetary stability and promoting trade development. This monetary compensation scheme (or Intra-Regional Payments Scheme) was at first bilateral, but although it worked fairly well for about eight years it was limited, cumbersome and unwieldy as each participant had to keep individual accounts for all the other participants and the accounts had to be individually balanced at the end of each credit period. In addition, the bilateral arrangements did not produce meaningful economies in the use of foreign exchange. The system finally became multilateral in 1977 and was called the CARICOM Multilateral Clearing Facility (CMCF). The CMCF was supposed to favour the use of internal CARICOM currencies for transaction settlement and to promote banking cooperation and monetary cooperation between member states. Each country was allowed a fixed credit line and initially the CMCF was successful enough that both the total credit line and the credit period were extended by 1982. With the CMCF in place, intraregional trade doubled between 1978 and 1981, and the use of the credit facility of the CMCF expanded from US$40 million to US$100 million. However, the CMCF failed shortly thereafter in the early 1980s due to Guyana's inability to settle its debts and Barbados being unable to grant new payment terms

In the period since suspension, the only activities which took place under the aegis of the CMCF were the rescheduling the obligations of the debtor (in the case of the CMCF, there was only one major debtor owing in excess of US$160 million to the Facility) and the activities of the Caricom Travellers Cheques (CTC) Facility. The Caricom Traveller's Cheques Facility was introduced on August 1, 1980 and authorised dealers were allowed to issue only Caricom traveller's cheques to residents travelling within Caricom countries other than Jamaica. Jamaica later fully joined the scheme in the mid-1980s and the cheques were issued in Trinidad and Tobago dollars in denominations of 10, 20, 50, and 100. The Traveller's Cheques facility was administered by the National Commercial Bank of Trinidad and Tobago and usage had fluctuated in the 1980s but between 1986 and 1991 it had average annual sales and encashment levels in excess of US$3 million. Following the removal of exchange control in most territories towards the end of the 1980s, the devaluation of the Trinidad & Tobago dollar and the introduction of floating exchange rates in Guyana (1987), Jamaica (1991) and Trinidad & Tobago (April 1993) the annual average sales and encashment levels for the CTC facility first showed a marked decline to under US$1.6 million in 1991 and then under US$1 million in 1992. The Caricom Traveller's Cheques Facility was officially ended in December 1993 with cheques issued before December 31, 1993 able to be cashed for a period of one year at commercial banks and thereafter only at the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.

Future proposals

• Airline amalgamation
• Civil Society Charter
• Currency Union
• Freedom of Movement
• Political Union(s)
• Regionalised Stock Exchange
• Reintroduction of a Single Tourist Visa
• Reintroduction of a Single Domestic Space

Free trade

From around the year 2000, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states have placed a new focus and emphasis on establishing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with local and international trading partners. In the past this was done in collaboration with the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), however in 2009 the CARICOM Heads of Government have voted for the CRNM to be moved to the Caribbean Community organisation where it would become renamed the CARICOM Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) similar to the OCTA of the Pacific Islands Forum.

Preferential agreements

Negotiating parties	Start day	Start month	Start year
CARICOM	1	January	1993
Venezuela
CARICOM			1995
Colombia

Free Trade Agreements

• CARICOM - Cuba (5 July 2000)
• CARICOM - Dominican Republic (December 2001)
• CARICOM - Costa Rica (9 March 2004)
• CARIFORUM - European Union EPA ("Economic Partnership Agreements"): Signed by all member states (less Guyana and Haiti) on 15 October 2008 in Barbados. Guyana later signed on 20 October 2008 in Brussels. (Montserrat is a British Overseas Territory and is thus exempt from needing to conclude this agreement.)

Proposed

• CARICOM - Canada: To be negotiated, after Canada finishes their CAFTA agreement.
• CARICOM - Mercosur: Opened for discussions in May 2005
• CARICOM - United States: Has been tossed around politically in various degrees including the idea of CARICOM seeking to be an entrant into NAFTA, but has not yet taken a firm position.

Note that the on-going negotiations with the EU over an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) involves all the CARICOM Member States (except Montserrat, which is not independent) plus the Dominican Republic grouped under the Caribbean Forum or CARIFORUM sub-grouping of the ACP countries. At the end of these negotiations (begun in 2002 and due to end in 2007) there will be a new Free Trade Agreement that will replace the Lomé system of preferential access to the European market for the ACP from 2008.

Petrocaribe

13 of the 15 CARICOM countries have signed in 2005 the Petrocaribe, an oil alliance with Venezuela which permits them to purchase oil on conditions of preferential payment.

See also

• CSME
• Petrocaribe
• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
• North American Union (NAU)
• Union of South American Nations (UNASUR)
• Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
• Caribbean Initiative
• Languages of the Caribbean
• Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network
• Commonwealth unification movement

External links

• Official website
• CARICOM Representation Office in Haiti (CROH)
• CARICOM Statistics: Statistical information compiled through the CARICOM Secretariat
• Radio CARICOM: the voice of the Caribbean Community (Press Release)
• Caricom Law: Website and online database of the CARICOM Legislative Drafting Facility (CLDF)
• Caricom Trade Support Programme: Government of Trinidad and Tobago
• PANCAP: Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS
• CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ)
• CARICOM (Revised Treaty) PDF (573 KB)
• EU Style Structure Evident in CARICOM
• CARICOM Blog
• Haiti suspends ties with CARICOM
• Jamaica Gleaner News - Haiti could return to CARICOM
• Haiti re-admitted?
• Caricom and Haiti: The raising of the Caribbean's 'Iron Curtain'
• How viable is a single Caribbean currency? Part II
• How viable is a single Caribbean currency? Part III
• The Dominican Republic in Caricom? Yes, we can
• Bureau recommends re-examination of Dominican Republic's proposed membership in CARICOM
• Guyana Journal (2007-07): Advancing Integration Between Caricom and Central America
• EDITORIAL: We may just have to dump CARICOM, July 4, 2010, Jamaica Gleaner
  • Commentary: Gleaner newspaper suggests disbanding CARICOM, July 5, 2010, Caribbean Net News
• Does Caricom have a future? , 6 July 2010, BBC.co.uk
• That elusive governance structure, 7 July 2010, BBC.co.uk