Modern Trinidad and Tobago maintains close relations with its Caribbean neighbours and major North American and European trading partners. As the most industrialized and second-largest country in the English-speaking Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago has taken a leading role in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and strongly supports CARICOM economic integration efforts. It also is active in the Summit of the Americas process and supports the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, lobbying other nations for seating the Secretariat in Port of Spain.
The Caribbean Community is an intergovernmental organisation that is a political and economic union of 15 member states throughout the Caribbean. They have primary objectives 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, with its four founding members signing the Treaty of Chaguaramas. Its primary activities involve:
The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance between countries and territories in the Eastern Caribbean. It also performs the role of spreading responsibility and liability in the event of natural disaster.
The Caribbean Court of Justice is the judicial institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Established in 2005, it is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) is an examination board in the Caribbean. It was established in 1972 under agreement by the participating governments in the Caribbean Community to conduct such examinations as it may think appropriate and award certificates and diplomas on the results of any such examinations so conducted. The council is empowered to regulate the conduct of any such examinations and prescribe the qualification requirements of candidates and the fees payable by them. It is now an examining body that provides educational certifications in 16 English speaking Commonwealth Caribbean Countries and Territories and has replaced the General Certificate of Education (GCE) examinations used by England and some other members of the Commonwealth. The CXC is an institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM); it was recognised as an Associate Institution of the Community in the 1973 treaty that created the Caribbean Community. Members of the council are drawn from the 16 territories and the region's two universities, the University of Guyana and the University of the West Indies.
The Secretariat of the Caribbean Community is the principal administrative organ for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and is headed by the secretary general, who is the chief executive officer of the community.
The CARICOM Single Market and Economy, also known as the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), is an integrated development strategy envisioned at the 10th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) which took place in July 1989 in Grand Anse, Grenada. The Grand Anse Declaration had three key Features:
- Deepening economic integration by advancing beyond a common market towards a Single Market and Economy.
- Widening the membership and thereby expanding the economic mass of the Caribbean Community.
- Progressive insertion of the region into the global trading and economic system by strengthening trading links with non-traditional partners.
The Treaty of Chaguaramas established the Caribbean Community and Common Market, popularly known as CARICOM. It was signed on 4 July 1973 in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago. It was signed by Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. It came into effect on 1 August 1973. The treaty established the regional institution while replacing the Caribbean Free Trade Association which ceased to exist on 1 May 1974. The revised treaty, signed in 2001, created the Caribbean Single Market and Economy.
The Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) was organised on 1 May 1968, to provide a continued economic linkage between the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean. The agreements establishing it came following the dissolution of the West Indies Federation which lasted from 1958 to 1962.
The Order of the Caribbean Community is an award given to
"Caribbean nationals whose legacy in the economic, political, social and cultural metamorphoses of Caribbean society is phenomenal"
The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) is a regional public health agency headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago which was established by CARICOM leaders in July 2011 and began operation in 2013.
CARIPASS is a voluntary travel card programme that will provide secure and simple border crossings for Caribbean Community (CARICOM) citizens and some legal residents of CARICOM nations. The CARIPASS initiative is coordinated by the Implementation Agency for Crime and Security, and seeks to provide standardised border control facilities within participating Caribbean communities.
Sir Edwin Wilberforce Carrington, is the former Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), serving from 1992 to 2010.
The nation of Trinidad and Tobago has been the leading supporter of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Trinidad and Tobago was one of the four members in 1973 which then along with Barbados, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda moved to establish the organisation that today it known as the Caribbean Community and Common Market. The new organisation because a successor to the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) by the Treaty of Chaguaramas, of which Trinidad and Tobago was a leading member and also a founding member.
A member state of the Caribbean Community is a state that has been specified as a member state within the Treaty of Chaguaramas or any other Caribbean state that is in the opinion of the Conference, able and willing to exercise the rights and assume the obligations of membership in accordance with article 29 of the Treaty of Chaguaramas. Member states are designated as either More economically developed country (MDCs) or Less economically developed countries (LDCs). These designations are not intended to create disparity among member states. The Community was established by mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, but has since become a multilingual organisation in practice with the addition of Dutch-speaking Suriname in 1995 and French-speaking Haiti in 2002. There are fifteen full members of the Caribbean Community, four of which are founding members.
Irwin LaRocque OOC is the immediate former Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, who was appointed in 2011. He is from Dominica.
William Gilbert Demas, OCC, TC was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian politician and banker.
Antigua and Barbuda has an embassy in Madrid. Spain is accredited to Antigua and Barbuda from its embassy in Kingston, Jamaica.
Saint Kitts and Nevis–Spain relations are the bilateral and diplomatic relations between these two countries. Saint Kitts and Nevis does not have embassy in Spain, but its embassy in United Kingdom is accredited for Spain. Spain also has no embassy on the islands, but its embassy in Kingston, Jamaica, is accredited to them.
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