Cuba marks 50th anniversary of CARICOM

 HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 4 (ACN) Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Cuban foreign minister, praised today the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Caribbean Community ( CARICOM) and ratified the commitment to continue forging ties between countries, through solidarity and cooperation.

In a message posted on Twitter , Cuban diplomat sent warm congratulations to the people and governments of the Caribbean nations linked to the integration mechanism.

With the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas (Trinidad and Tobago) on July 4, 1973, CARICOM was created, bringing together 15 member states (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Bahamas, Belize, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago), in addition to five associates (Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands).

The mechanism has maintained strong ties with Cuba, and since 2002 the CARICOM-Cuba Summits of Heads of State and Government have been held every three years, alternating between Cuba and the member states.
Both parties have a Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement, in which areas such as tourism services, travel, entertainment, transportation, construction, telecommunications and information technology were included in 2017; and also recognize the effectiveness of collaboration in human resources training, construction, sports and health.

In response to the health crisis caused by COVID-19, Cuba has sent collaborators, in brigades of the Henry Reeve International Contingent, to most of the independent member states of CARICOM, as well as to non-independent territories in the region.

For its part, CARICOM has maintained its rejection of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States on Cuba, as well as Washington's actions to subvert the legality and internal order in the Caribbean island.