Caricom Countries

Caricom Countries

Subject – IR

Context –Prime Minister Modi said India has made special arrangements for cooperation with the Pacific islands and Caricom countries in the wake of the threat of climate change.

Concept –

• The Caribbean Community (CARICOM or CC) is an intergovernmental organisation of 15 member states (14 nation-states and one dependency) throughout the Caribbean.
• CARICOM is the oldest surviving integration movement in the developing world.
• Objective – promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, to ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and to coordinate foreign policy.
• The organisation was established in 1973.
• All CARICOM countries are classified as developing countries.
• They are all relatively small in terms of population and size, and diverse in terms of geography and population, culture and levels of economic and social development.
• CARICOM countries share similarities and challenges.
• The secretariat headquarters is in Georgetown, Guyana.
• CARICOM is an official United Nations Observer beneficiary.
• They are from the main ethnic groups of Indigenous Peoples, Africans, Indians, Europeans, Chinese, Portuguese and Javanese. The Community is multi-lingual; with English as the major language complemented by French and Dutch and variations of these, as well as African and Asian expressions.
• CARICOM has 15 members – Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad & Tobago.
• The Chairmanship of the Community is rotated every six months among the member countries.
• The CARICOM Single Market and Economy are intended to benefit the people of the region by providing more and better opportunities to produce and sell goods and services and to attract investment.
• All members have an equal say regardless of size or economic status.