Caribbean Community
- Member States
- Associated States
- Observation status
Without land: 61,146 km ²
Without mainland: 248.6 inhabitants per km ²
- Bahamian dollar (BSD )
- Barbados Dollar ( BBD)
- Belize Dollar ( BZD)
- Guyanese dollar ( BYD )
- Gourde ( HTG)
- Jamaican Dollar (JMD )
- Suriname Dollar ( SRD)
- Trinidad and Tobago Dollar (TTD )
The Caribbean Community (English Caribbean Community and Common Market, CARICOM) is an international organization in the Caribbean with headquarters in Georgetown ( Guyana).
History
The CARICOM was established on July 4, 1973 as a result of 15 years of negotiations by the Treaty of Chaguaramas and entered into force on 1 August of the same year. The first four signatories were Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Predecessor organization was the Caribbean Free Trade Association CARIFTA ( Caribbean Free Trade Area ). With the establishment of the CARICOM oriented to the EC began to change from a free-trade zone to an intensive structured community that seeks not only economic cooperation. A year later came another seven States and Montserrat in the organization. 1984 pushed the Bahamas to Suriname in 1999 and 2002 was followed by Haiti, the last member for the time being. Signed in 2001, the government will establish a new Treaty of Chaguaramas (Trinidad ), with a Caribbean Community was established. This is since February 23, 2010 was again part of the much larger community of Latin American and Caribbean States ( CELAC ).
Secretaries General
The Caribbean Community had since its formation following general secretaries:
Members
Full members
Full members are following 14 States and 1 British overseas territory:
Associate Members
Associate members are the following five British Overseas Territories:
Observer
Observer status have the following 5 countries:
Objectives
- Members of the Joint Caribbean Market ( CSME )
- CARICOM members who do not participate in the Caribbean Common Market
- Associated States
- Members with CARICOM passport
- Members without a CARICOM passport
- Associated States
- Venezuela
- Member countries of Petrocaribe and CARICOM
- Members of Petrocaribe, not part of CARICOM
- Members of CARICOM, not part of Petrocaribe
The aim of CARICOM is the coordination of foreign policy and cooperation in the fields of health and social services, education, culture and sports, science and technology. The economic integration of the Caribbean Common Market ( English Caribbean Single Market and Economy, CSME ) was created. It forms a customs union with a common external tariff. In addition, between countries double taxation agreements and cooperation in the field of development planning and to promote industrialization. The CSME has been in force since 1 January 2006. 2013 took 13 of the 15 CARICOM members on the Community market part.
In addition, CARICOM has introduced a uniform passport which was issued by 12 of the 15 CARICOM-S tates in 2009, ie not in the Bahamas, Haiti and Montserrat. 2010, this was extended by the CARIPASS, a sort of identification card, use the date ten full members.
This was preceded by the Agreement " Petrocaribe ", which was change from 11 CARICOM-L signed under the direction of Venezuela in 2005. It allows you to pay only 40% of oil supplies from Venezuela at a market price of about U.S. $ 100 within 90 days. The rest can be owed over 25 years at an interest rate of 1%. The aim of this contract is the common development, production and processing of oil and gas as well be setting up a network of Petroleum industrial plants, by which the supply of the region to be sustainable basis.
Characteristics and importance
With a circumference of almost 0.5 million km ² in area and almost 17 million inhabitants, the dimensions of the CARICOM are roughly comparable with those of Cameroon. While it is relatively straightforward in population, territorial expansion and economic power as opposed to " market giants" such as the EU or ASEAN, yet its Member States are partly heterogeneous structured and thus not protected from difficulties in development and progress. Haiti is approximately 58 % of the total population in this respect a heavyweight, followed by Jamaica with about 17 %, and Trinidad and Tobago with about 8 %. Whereas most of the land mass of the CARICOM falls on the South American mainland, on the one hand by Guyana with approximately 46% and the other by Suriname, with around 35 %, which together account for over 80 % of the total area. The latter two countries are also parallel members in the Union of South American Nations ( UNASUR ).
In half of the members of the East Caribbean dollar is the official currency whose exchange rate is tied for decades in the ratio 2.7 to 1 fixed to the U.S. dollar. The other half used other forms of the dollar. Most countries are considered developing countries with low income. However, some tend to have characteristics of an emerging country. Haiti presents with an HDI of 0.456, the poorest country in the entire American continent and Barbados with 0,825 the significantly highest value of the CARICOM dar. addition makes the urbane Trinidad and Tobago with over 32 % most of the Gross Regional Product ( total GDP ), behind is Jamaica with still nearly 16%. While Jamaica and St. Kitts and Nevis with well over a hundred per cent have one of the highest debt rates in the world, with 19% having Suriname and Haiti with 12 % one of the lowest.
The whole region is their common colonial past by European conquerors, led by Britain and France, but also by the Netherlands. Thus, a cultural particularity the Western European emerged from mixing with indigenous languages Creole, which is still used occasionally in Haiti with Haitian and other island states.
Dark side of the Caribbean " civilizing" the one was the one-sided orientation of the export structure in favor of European and North American consumers to meet the demand for colonial goods such as cocoa or sugar. This manifests itself today, for example, in the cultivation and sale of so-called " cash crops ", which are mostly processed only in the importing country. On the other hand, the drastic population decline of the natives under Spanish rule is mentioned. Thus, on the Central Caribbean island of Hispaniola, is located on the west side of Haiti, the Indians originally established, including their culture, etc almost completely destroyed because of introduced diseases.
Nowadays, almost all Member States are in direct or indirect British sphere of influence by the majority of them are organized as a Commonwealth Realm. In addition Natarkatastrophen are like hurricanes or earthquakes currently one of the most significant challenges. The last major quake in Haiti in 2010 was one of the worst since the measured value recording, taught correspondingly high material damage and crack some 300,000 people to their deaths. In occasional volcanic eruptions large parts of the island nation may be devastated.