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The Greater
Caribbean This Week - The ACS on the Agenda of Sub-Regional
Organisations in the Caribbean |
By: Watson R.
Denis
THE GREATER CARIBBEAN includes sub-regional organisations
which work in the area of economic integration.
Organisations such as CARICOM (Caribbean Community), SICA
(Central American Integration System) and SIECA (Central
American Economic Integration System) play a decisive role
in the integration process. All of these organisations have
achieved something to energise the integration process in
the region. For example, the establishment and
implementation of the CARICOM CSME (Single Market and
Economy) last year is a giant step towards effective
integration.
Integration also implies co-operation. As a result, the
Association of Caribbean States (ACS) was created in 1994 to
facilitate closer relations between the sub-regions of the
Greater Caribbean through dialogue and co-ordination, and to
develop regional co-operation. The ACS therefore represents
a space for the dialogue needed between the insular
Caribbean, Central America, and the three Latin American
states (Colombia, Mexico and the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela) washed by or bordering the Caribbean Sea. It also
responds to the need for more dynamic co-operation in four
key areas of activity identified by the Member States and
Associate Members of the Association - Natural Disasters,
Transport, Sustainable Tourism, and Trade Development. Since
its creation, the ACS has not ceased to re-structure and
strengthen itself in order to respond to the expectations of
its members and the founding objectives which led to its
creation. |
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This constant
re-structuring and institutional strengthening has always
been recognised by sub-regional organisations. This year,
they placed special emphasis on this. They see the ACS as a
favourable public space for eliciting political dialogue and
developing functional regional co-operation. Thus, on
February 22, CARICOM and SICA signed a historic Plan of
Action in which they opted to use the institutional channels
of the ACS to explore for example, the opportunities they
can obtain in promoting and developing trade in the Greater
Caribbean. Similarly, they focused on the ACS for
strengthening their work in Tourism and Transport.
In addition, at the 10th Meeting of the CARICOM Council for
Foreign and Community Relations held on May 10-11, 2007 in
Belize City, Belize, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs
attending the meeting recognised that the ACS is a vehicle
for political commitment and the implementation of
functional co-operation between countries of the Greater
Caribbean. On that occasion, they also called for greater
participation by Member States and Associate members in the
Association’s projects and activities. They also highlighted
the positive work done by the ACS Secretariat and the
Caribbean Sea Commission set up by the ACS for protecting
and safeguarding the Caribbean Sea, and they welcomed
Resolution 61/197 adopted at the 61st Session of the UN
General Assembly entitled “Towards the Sustainable
development of the Caribbean Sea for Present and Future
Generations”.
Similarly, 21 representatives of countries of the Greater
Caribbean, including 11 Heads of State and Government, also
meeting in Belize City on May 12, 2007, for the CARICOM-SICA
Summit, issued a Declaration commending the creation of the
Caribbean Sea Commission, and highlighted the scope of the
latest UN resolution on the Caribbean Sea to recognise this
Sea as a special area in the context of sustainable
development.
The ACS, for its part, far from being too proud of the
confidence placed in it and the place it currently occupies
on the agenda of sub-regional organisations, has found
another reason to continue working with determination to
strengthen its operational structures and, more and more, to
better respond to expectations.
Moreover, it must be stressed that the closer ties being
forged at this time between CARICOM and SICA partners are a
praiseworthy initiative. In this regard, the discussions
undertaken between these two bodies on the Free Trade
Agreement during the CARICOM-SICA Summit of Heads of State
and Government held in Belize must be encouraged. In the
final analysis, once such a project is completed, it will
strengthen not only co-operation between these two
geographical zones, but also in the Greater Caribbean in
general. Continued strengthening, the vitalisation of the
ACS and its even stronger projection onto the regional and
international scene require such close relations between
players in the region. |
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