SAN JUAN – In its efforts to promote the sustainable development of the Greater Caribbean through “consultation, cooperation and concerted action,” the Association of Caribbean States will hold the 7th Summit of the ACS Heads of State and/or Government in Havana on Saturday, June 4.

The ACS addresses trade, transport, sustainable tourism and natural disasters in the Greater Caribbean. The focal area of this year’s summit, themed “Together for a Sustainable Caribbean,” will be the protection and preservation of the Caribbean Sea. On the agenda of the summit as well is the appointment of a new secretary general who will head the ACS for the next four years.

The Caribbean Sea Commission of the ACS, which was established in 2006 to promote and oversee the sustainable use of the Caribbean Sea, held a symposium called “Challenges, Dialogues and Cooperation towards the Sustainability of the Caribbean Sea” in November, focusing on the main impacts of Sargassum seaweed, lionfish invasion and coastal erosion.

The ACS’s member states are Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela. Its Associate Members are Aruba, Curacao, (France on behalf of French Guiana, Saint Barthelemy and Saint Martin), Guadeloupe, Martinique, Sint Maarten, (The Netherlands on behalf of Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius), Turks and Caicos.