The Caribbean Community (CARICOM or CC) is an intergovernmental organisation that is a political and economic union of 15 member states (14 nation-states and one dependency) and five associated members throughout the Americas and Atlantic Ocean. It has the primary objective to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and coordinate foreign policy. The organisation was established in 1973, by its four founding members signing the Treaty of Chaguaramas. Its primary activities involve:
- Coordinating economic policies and development planning.
- Devising and instituting special projects for the less-developed countries within its jurisdiction.
- Operating as a regional single market for many of its members (Caricom Single Market).
- Handling regional trade disputes.
The secretariat headquarters is in Georgetown, Guyana. CARICOM has been granted the official United Nations General Assembly observer status.
CARICOM was established by the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean and currently includes all the independent Anglophone island countries plus Belize, Guyana, Montserrat and Suriname, as well as all other British Caribbean territories and Bermuda as associate members. English was its sole working language into the 1990s. The organisation became multilingual with the addition of Dutch and Sranan Tongo-speaking Suriname in 1995 and the French and Haitian Creole-speaking Haiti in 2002. Furthermore, it added Spanish as the fourth official language in 2003. In July 2012, CARICOM announced they considered making French and Dutch official languages. In 2001, the Conference of Heads of Governments signed a revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that cleared the way to transform the idea of a common market CARICOM into the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). Part of the revised treaty establishes and implements the Caribbean Court of Justice. (Full article...)