CARICOM – Dominican Republic (DR) Relations
- Dominican Republic (DR) has long sought to become a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). In 1990, the Eleventh Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government considered a request from the Dominican Republic for membership to CARICOM. The application was referred to the independent West Indian Commission by the Conference. The Commission did not pronounce directly on the application for membership, but recommended the establishment of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). Since the initial application, CARICOM-Dominican Republic relations have been facilitated by the following:Ø The CARICOM-Dominican Republic Trade AgreementØ Common membership of the CARIFORUM of the ACP States;Ø Participation in the work of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM); andØ Common membership in the ACS
- Outside of the CARIFORUM relationship, the Dominican Republic and CARICOM have had ongoing discussions and consultations with respect to the possibility of deepening the existing relationship. CARICOM Heads of Government, at the Eighteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting held in February 2007, endorsed the decision to form a Task Force to examine and make recommendations on the issue of a closer relationship. The concept emanated from the Twenty-First Meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government held in November 2006. It was recommended that the Task Force should possess the necessary skills (economic, political, trade, etc) to execute its mandate effectively. The Task Force was mandated to undertake a comprehensive examination of the Community’s relations with the Dominican Republic.
- In addition to creating a wider Caribbean trading space with the establishment of CARIFORUM, the Dominican Republic jointly with the 15 members of CARICOM secured an even larger bi-regional trading space by signing the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) on the 15th October 2008 which has been implemented provisionally since 31st October 2008.
- In the past few months the Dominican Republic, has re-asserted its interest in strengthening relations with the region. In this regard, the Government of Dominican Republic has undertaken an assessment, through a series of visits by international consultants to various CARICOM countries, to ascertain their views as it relates to widening CARICOM-Dominican Republic relations. In prelude to the pending visit of the CARICOM-Dominican Republic Task Force to Jamaica, Ms. Taiana Mora Ramis, international consultant, paid a courtesy call on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade to discuss CARICOM/DR relations and the various ways it can be strengthened. The meeting outlined the need to broaden the scope of relations beyond the narrow trade-based interaction that presently exists.
- The consultation process was expected to be completed in mid-December 2008 and a final report submitted to the Government of the Dominican Republic, after consultations were done with other CARICOM territories.
CARICOM-Cuba Relations
- Agreement is yet to be reached by CARICOM and Cuba on the expansion of the list of products for duty free treatment in both markets. The schedule for CARICOM’s meetings will lead to further delays in resolving this matter. CARICOM-Cuba talks won’t commence before 2009.
- Negotiations with the USA are next on CARICOM’s schedule for negotiations (after those with Canada).
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