The Caribbean Community and Common Market or CARICOM was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas which came into effect on August 1, 1973. The first four signatories were Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. The group was orginally organized to provide a continued economic linkage between the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean following the dissolution of the West Indies Federation which lasted from January 3, 1958 to May 31, 1962.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) later became un-officially multi-lingual in union with the membership of it's mainly Dutch language speaking full member Suriname, on July 4 1995 and also Haiti on July 2 2002 where mainly French & Krèyol are spoken.

In 2001, the heads of government signed a Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, thus clearing the way for the transformation of the Common Market aspect of CARICOM. Part of the revised treaty includes the establishment and implementation of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) which will be based in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.

The (CCJ) will act as the original jurisdiction for settlement of disputes on the functioning of the Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy (CSME), as well as serving as an appellate court of last resort for member states which have severed their country's ties with the Privy Council in London, United Kingdom.

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The goal statement of the CARICOM Secretariat is: "To provide dynamic leadership and service, in partnership with Community institutions and Groups, toward the attainment of a viable, internationally competitive and sustainable Community, with improved quality of life for all."

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The leaders agreed to create the Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy (CSME) which will come into effect on February 19, 2005 for Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

The three countries had originally set January 5, 2005 as the date of signing the agreement relating to the (CSME), instead the ceremony has been rescheduled to coincide with the February 19 inauguration of the new CARICOM-headquarters building at Liliendaal, in Guyana.

The prospect is that 10 of the remaining 12 CARICOM countries will join by the end of 2005. The Bahamas and Haiti are not expected to be a part of the new economic arrangement at that time. The CARICOM Secretariat also maintains frequent contact with another orgaization named the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), which works with many of the smaller isles of CARICOM. Many of the OECS countries are seeking to maintain themselves as a micro-economic grouping within CARICOM.

Currently CARICOM has 15 Full members:

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Dominica
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Haiti (Provisional membership on 4 July 1998, full membership on 2 July 2002)
• Jamaica
• Montserrat
• St. Kitts and Nevis
• St. Lucia
• Suriname (July 4, 1995)
• St. Vincent and the Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago

There are five associate members:

• British Virgin Islands (July 1991)
• Turks and Caicos Islands (July 1991)
• Anguilla (July 1999)
• Cayman Islands (16 May 2002)
• Bermuda (2 July 2003)

See also: Trade bloc

External link

• The Community's Web site is http://www.caricom.org

de:Karibische Gemeinschaft es:Comunidad del Caribe nl:Caricom