(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Spain and the European Union (EU) are observing with “interest and admiration”, the efforts of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in its integration process, says Ambassador Jesus Silva.

The first accredited envoy of Spain to CARICOM, in presenting his credentials to CARICOM Secretary General H.E. Edwin Carrington, Tuesday April 17, 2007, said further that CARICOM provides one of the most advanced models of Regional cooperation in the world apart from the EU. CARICOM’s entry into a Single Market and its goal of fulfilling the process towards an economic union “have indeed shown the ambition of this Region to become a modern and respectful actor in the globalised international scene…” he told the gathering at the CARICOM Secretariat, in Georgetown.

He lauded the commitment of Spain and Europe to help advance the common goal of CARICOM as a more powerful bloc, with enhanced political cooperation and as a Regional market attractive to foreign investments and economic partners.

CARICOM and Spain continue to deepen relations. A new and more ambitious framework of collaborative efforts is evolving as evidenced by two Joint Commissions meetings to date; the last held in Kingston, Jamaica last year. These new areas of cooperation include training of Caribbean workers in tourism collaboration in the search for alternative agricultural products; part of the Region’s strategy to cope with the change in preferential conditions governing the sale of traditional exports, sugar and bananas.

“In the next months, we hope to see the new areas of cooperation coming on stream, including investments, cooperation programmes and further political dialogue. And it would be for me a great honour to be able, as first Spanish Representative to the CARICOM, to work even closer with you and your team, in order to make this old relationship into a vibrant modern partnership,” Ambassador Silva said.