The Turks and Caicos Islands are expected to become the ACS’ newest Associate Member, which, according to the organisation’s Convention, will grant them the right to “ intervene in discussions and vote at meetings of the Ministerial Council and Special Committees on matters which affect them directly, falling within their constitutional competence. Aruba ; France on behalf of Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana; and the Netherlands Antilles are the first countries to have attained the status of Associate Member within the Association.

Consideration will also be given to requests for Observer and Social Partner status within the ACS. Expressions of interest have been received from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration ( BCIE), the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences ( FLACSO) and the Latin American and Caribbean University ( ULAC).

All of these requests will be analysed by the Preparatory Intersessional meeting on March 26 and 27, and their recommendations forwarded to the Ministerial Council for approval on March 28.

About the ACS

The Association of Caribbean States is the organization for consultation, cooperation and concerted action in trade, transport, sustainable tourism and natural disasters in the Greater Caribbean. Its Member States are Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela. Its Associate Members are Aruba , France on behalf of French Guiana , Guadeloupe , and Martinique , and the Netherlands Antilles .

For further information, please contact:

Denise Lewis Martínez
Communications Officer
Association of Caribbean States
E-mail: communications@acs-aec.org
Tel : 1-868-622-9575
Fax : 1-868-622-1653