Statements and Declarations

We, the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, meeting in Georgetown, Guyana at the Twelfth Special Meeting of the Conference on Friday, 7 December 2007, with a view to finding solutions, at both the national and regional levels, to the critical issue of poverty and the rising cost of living, took note of the research which highlights a number of factors impacting this issue in the Caribbean Community.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)   The Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) held its Twenty-Sixth Meeting in Georgetown, Guyana, 24-25 November 2008.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Kingdom of Spain have signed a Joint Declaration that encompasses issues ranging from political dialogue to economic and cultural development. The Joint Declaration was signed at the conclusion of the IV CARICOM-Spain Summit held in Madrid, Spain on 11 July 2008.

Please see the full text of the Declaration below_

Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, meeting in Antigua & Barbuda on July 2-4, 2008, examined matters affecting the level of preferential access to the European market - preferences that have been instrumental in raising thousands of small farmers out of poverty, enabled them to achieve commendable levels of social and environmental responsibility and which have facilitated the contribution of the banana industry to the development of the Member States concerned.

We, the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), meeting at Dickenson Bay, Antigua and Barbuda, on the occasion of the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government, and on the 35th Anniversary of the Community;

Recalling the historic signing, 43 years ago, of the Dickenson Bay Agreement that brought into existence the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) which evolved into the Caribbean Community;

Acknowledging the vision of unity of the Founding Fathers of the Caribbean Community;

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Trade Ministers of the Caribbean Community, meeting at the Twenty-Sixth Special Meeting for the Council of Trade and Economic Development in Antigua and Barbuda on 10 May 2008, examined various issues relating to the Region’s banana industry, in particular, matters affecting the level of preferential access to the European market -- preferences that have been instrumental in raising thousands of small farmers out of poverty while enabling them to achieve commendable levels of social and environmental responsibility.

The Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) held its Thirteenth Special Meeting in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 4-5 April 2008.

Crime and Security was the focus of the Meeting as agreed at the Nineteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting in Nassau, The Bahamas. The thrust of the Meeting was to ‘fully ventilate the crime and security issues facing the Region and to agree on a Strategy and Plan of Action to stem the rising tide of violent criminality’.