Havana, 13 th December, 1996

The Ministerial Council:

Articles III, VIII (3) and IX, sub-paragraph (a) of the Convention establishing the ACS;

Article 2, sub-paragraph (a) of the Work Programme;

Articles 5 and 8 of the Terms of Reference for the Special Committees, and

That tourism is a critical sector for Member States and Associate Members;

That, as a result, the Plan of Action of Port-of-Spain, adopted in August 1995, includes many activities related to tourism,

That the Work Programme states that tourism is one of the priorities for the Association; and

That the Special Committee on Development of Trade and External Economic Relations, during its first meeting, recommended suggesting to the Ministerial Council the establishment, as soon as possible, of a Special Committee on Tourism as a follow-up mechanism of the Plan of Action for Tourism.

1. To work towards the early establishment of a Sustainable Tourism Zone in the Caribbean involving Member States and Associate Members of the ACS.

2. To establish a Special Committee on Tourism, which will undertake, among other things, the following:

a) to initiate during the first quarter of 1997 the necessary action for the establishment of a Sustainable Tourism Zone in the Caribbean.

b) to submit for consideration by the Third Ministerial Meeting a draft Agreement that should reflect the fundamental principles and actions for the creation of the zone.

c) to finalize the draft Agreement taking into consideration the recomendations and comments of the Ministerial Council and to submit it for approval at its Fourth Meeting in 1998.

d) to establish links with other Special Committees of the Association.

3. To determine at its Fourth Meeting the target date by which the Zone should become operational, bearing in mind the intention of the Association that this should be achieved as soon as possible but, in any case, no later than the year 2020.

4. To charge the Special Committee on Tourism with the responsibility of ensuring that the Agreement which Establishes the Sustainable Tourism Zone in the Caribbean is in keeping with the principles and commitments outlined in international instruments such as the MARPOL Convention, IMO Guidelines, the Convention on Biodiversity, the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of the Flora and Fauna, the Montreal Guidelines, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNESCO Agreements on the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the Central American Alliance for Sustainable Development, the WTO Charter for Sustainable Tourism, the Rio Declaration on the Environment and Development, Agenda 21 and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, held in Bridgetown, Barbados.

5. To develop co-ordination mechanisms between hemispheric, regional and sub-regional organizations, in particular the Caribbean Tourism Organization and the Central America Tourism Integration Secretariat, with a view to ensuring their contribution to the development of the Sustainable Tourism Zone in the Caribbean and their support for activities undertaken within that framework.

6. To have the Executive Body of the Special Committee on Tourism, during the first year of work, be made up by Mexico as Chairman, Jamaica as Vice-Chairman and Costa Rica as Rapporteur. The first meeting of this Committee shall take place in the Dominican Republic during the first quarter of 1997.