CARICOM history, in brief

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

February 15, 2023 – As CARICOM celebrates 50 years of operation and the Turks and Caicos makes its bid to officially join the organization as a full voting member we look back on how it all started.

Born out of the collapse of the West Indies Federation in 1962, (a previous regional integration effort with ten members) the Caribbean Community and Common Market CARICOM took many years to reach fruition after it was proposed.

It was the government of Trinidad and Tobago that voiced in 1962 what many other Caribbean countries had been considering, a way to strengthen ties between themselves.  This proposed Caribbean community would open its doors to everyone independent or not.

The first Heads of Government conference was convened in 1963 to discuss the idea but nothing came of it.  Two years later, the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA)  was established with a small group of countries.

By 1968 all Caribbean countries were invited to join should they choose.  The members of that organization were: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and finally Trinidad and Tobago.

While this was going on, CARICOM had still not managed to be established, but at the Seventh Heads of Government Conference in 1972, the Caribbean leaders decided to make CARIFTA into a common market and established CARICOM. That officially happened at the next Heads of Government Meeting in 1973.

All the members of CARIFTA joined CARICOM except Montserrat and Antigua and the Treaty of Chaguaramas was signed, solidifying the existence of the regional body.  In the years following, more joined, including The Bahamas, Belize, Haiti, and Suriname.  As for associate members,  in 1991 the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos became the first two, followed by Anguilla in 1999, Cayman in 2002 and Bermuda in 2003.

Now the territories will meet again at the 44th Heads of Government Meeting in The Bahamas from February 15th – 17th as they move closer to the goal of becoming a more unified region.