Guyana signed the Caracas Energy Accord.

The 3rd ACS Summit was well attended by its member countries.

The French DOMs were represented at the 3rd ACS Summit by the Presidents of the Regional Councils of Guadeloupe and Martinique. The President of the General Council of French Guiana was also present.

3rd Summit a Success

The 3rd ACS Summit, held on December 11-12, 2001, in Margarita Island, Venezuela, was a resounding success. The concrete results of the 3rd ACS Summit were many.

A total of 26 countries signed the Margarita Declaration and Plan of Action which sets out specific goals and targets for the next two years, with a mechanism for monitoring and implementation.

Also, 25 countries signed the Convention for the Establishment of the Sustainable Tourism Zone of the Caribbean (STZC). The STZC will be the world's first such Zone and is meant to guarantee the long term viability of the region's tourism product. The Convention provides for the categorization of destinations according to agreed standards of sustainability. Provision is to be made for technical assistance to help countries upgrade their tourism product to meet the established standards.

An agreement was signed between the ACS Secretariat and the OPEC Fund for International Development and Venezuela's Development Bank (BANDES). The agreement will facilitate increased access of ACS countries and the regional private sector to loans and technical assistance from the OPEC Fund. Total commitments from this fund amount to US$6 billion but only a small proportion has gone to the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

Another agreement was signed between the ACS Secretariat and the International Francophone Organization. This provides for strengthening the French language capabilities of the Secretariat and of ACS member countries.

A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between the ACS Secretariat and Venezuela's recently established Maritime University of the Caribbean. The MOU provides for cooperation in maritime training for nationals from ACS member countries.

An Agreement was signed between Venezuela and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to facilitate technical assistance to ACS countries for cooperation projects.

Eight ACS member countries, namely Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines signed the Caracas Energy Agreement for the supply of oil from Venezuela on favourable terms.

Turkey and the ACS also signed a Cooperation Agreement which establishes the framework for potential projects in the priority areas of the ACS.

The Margarita Declaration begins with a pledge to establish the region of the Greater Caribbean as a Zone of Cooperation. This will consist initially of joint actions in the agreed ACS priority areas of trade, sustainable tourism, transport and natural disasters. It establishes a mission to which all the member countries subscribe, irrespective of their membership in sub-regional integration schemes.

Commenting on the milieu at the Summit, the ACS Secretary General noted a growing feeling of fraternity and solidarity among leaders from the different language groupings.

The list of Heads of State and/or Government attending included Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur, Belizean Prime Minister Said Musa, Colombian President Andrés Pastrana, Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodríguez, Cuban President Fidel Castro Ruiz, Dominican Prime Minister Pierre Charles, Grenadian Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo, Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, Dominican Republic President Hipólito Mejía, St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, Surinamese President Runaldo Ronaldo Venetiaan, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías.

 

Mantle passed to Honduras
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Honduras has been elected to chair the Executive Board of the Ministerial Council, the highest body of the ACS. The 7th Ordinary Meeting of the Ministerial Council, held on Margarita Island, Venezuela on December 10, 2001, also chose the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jamaica and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama

as the two Vice Chairmen, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico as Rapporteur. Their terms of office will end with the culmination of the 8th Ministerial Council to be held in Belize in late November or early December 2002.

The Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) was declared a Founding Observer in the ACS, in recognition of its contribution to the creation and consolidation of the ACS.

The Meeting also accepted the Antilles-French Guiana Regional Centre of the National Institute of Agronomical Research (CRAG/INRA) as a Social Actor in the ACS.

The 7th Ministerial Council also decided that the Executive Boards of the Special Committees shall be composed of the representatives of the Members of the Association as follows:

• Trade Development and External Economic Relations
  Chairman: Costa Rica
  Vice Chairman: Trinidad and Tobago
  Rapporteur: Dominican Republic
• Budget and Administration
  Chairman: Honduras
  Vice Chairman: Trinidad and Tobago
  Rapporteur: Panama
• Transport
  Chairman: Cuba
  Vice Chairman: Panama
  Rapporteur: Aruba
• Natural Disasters
  Chairman: Mexico
  Vice Chairman: Netherlands Antilles
  Rapporteur: El Salvador
• Sustainable Tourism
  Chairman: Venezuela
  Vice Chairmen: Dominican Republic and France
  Rapporteur: Costa Rica

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