FOSTERING CO-OPERATION IN THE GREATER CARIBBEAN

Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Mr. Edwin Carrington will join with his counterparts from the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), the Latin American Economic System (SELA), Central American Integration System (SICA) and the Central Economic Integration System (SIECA) in fostering new planks of cooperation across the wider Caribbean. Cooperation in Sustainable Tourism in the Caribbean features prominently in these initiatives.

The establishment of a Sustainable Tourism Zone in the Caribbean is also listed as a top agenda item of the Second Meeting on Inter-Secretariat Co-operation in the Greater Caribbean which opens in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago,17May, 2001.

The two-day meeting is expected to significantly advance cooperation initiatives in trade facilitation and training in external negotiations, major considerations for small economies, and perspectives of the political and economic developments in the Region.

The five hemispheric groupings are working together on the establishment of an Integrated Information System for the Greater Caribbean area as part of the cooperation efforts across the Caribbean which aims particularly at promoting trade, the development of intra-ACS transport, and the creation of an ACS-wide trade and production data base among the Secretariats of ACS, CARICOM, SELA, SICA, and SIECA.

The decision to initiate the Inter-Secretariat Cooperation Forum emanated from a mandate by Heads of State and Government of the ACS at their Second Summit the Dominican Republic in 1999.

The ACS, which was established in 1996, is aimed at identifying and promoting the implementation of policies and programmes designed to harness, utilise and develop the collective capabilities of the Caribbean Region in order to achieve sustainable cultural, economic, social, scientific and technological advancement. The association also promotes an enhanced economic space for institutional structures and cooperative arrangements.

In 1996, CARICOM was accorded the status of Founding Observer in recognition of its efforts in the establishment of the ACS and the contribution it will make to the fulfilment of the association's objectives.