Trade Relations between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Dominican Republic entered a new era on 28 April 2000, when the Foreign Minister of the Dominican Republic, Hon. Eduardo Latorre and the Secretary-General of CARICOM, Mr. Edwin W. Carrington, signed in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, the Protocol to Implement the Agreement Establishing the Free Trade Area between CARICOM and the Dominican Republic.
Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community at the Sixth Special Meeting of the Conference held on 16 April 1999 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, reviewed the impact on the Caribbean Community of the rulings by the WTO Panel on the revised European Union Banana Regime.
As a result of the deliberations, the CARICOM leaders issued the following statement:
A Special Meeting of the Conference Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community is being organised to take place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Friday, 16 April.
Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Forum of ACP States(CARIFORUM), the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and leaders of elegation of Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines;
The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed on August 22, 1998 between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Dominican Republic will establish a Free Trade Area composed of 14 million people when it comes into effect.
The FTA will come into effect either on January 1, 1999 or upon completion of a plan of action scheduled to be completed ninety days after the signing of the Agreement. Both parties will then take the necessary administrative and legal action to give effect to the Agreement.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the President of Cuba will meet with the President of the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo from Thursday, 20 August-Saturday, 22 August 1998.
His Excellency, President Leonel Fernandez is hosting the meeting during celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of the founding of the city of Santo Domingo and will also host a dinner in commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the Signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which established CARICOM.