Havana, 13th December, 1996

The Ministerial Council:

That a Tourism Action Plan was adopted by the First Summit of Heads of State or Government and Representatives of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), held in Port-of-Spain;

That in the chapter on Human Resources, paragraph XV, of the above Tourism Action Plan, the Heads of State ordered the establishment of a Caribbean Tourism Education and Training Council;

That the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) examined this subject at the technical level on two occasions in Barbados and agreed to design an Action Plan as well as to establish the composition and functions of the Caribbean Tourism Education and Training Council, to be submitted to the Meeting of Ministers of Tourism of the Greater Caribbean;

That, during the Ministerial Meeting on Tourism held on September 24, 1996 in Barbados, together with the Annual Conference of the CTO, a recommendation was passed for the establishment of the Caribbean Tourism Education and Training Council to be submitted to the Ministerial Council of the ACS for its final approval,

1. To establish the Caribbean Tourism Education and Training Council, made up of the 17 institutions mentioned in Proposal No. 1 of Appendix I of the ACS Secretary General’s Report plus the Central American Tourism Integration Secretariat (SITCA). This Council will also comprise representatives of the 39 Member States and Associate States and Members of the ACS.

2. The ACS Special Committee on Tourism will adopt the necessary measures to regulate the functioning of this Council.

3. The Governments of Member States and Associated Members will be able to appoint representatives of their specialized national institutions in the areas of accreditation, regularization, articulation and development of programmes in tourism education and training,

4. To adopt the ACS Tourism Education and Training Action Plan, comprising the proposals on this topic contained in Appendix I of the ACS Secretary General's Report to the Second Meeting of the Ministerial Council.

5. The financial implications contained in the respective proposals which appear in Appendix I are of an indicative nature and do not compromise the respective Governments.