On establishing the Sustainable Tourism Zone of the Caribbean (STZC) as a means of promoting the expansion of tourism on the basis of sustainability and to facilitate the overall development of the Caribbean region, the following activities must be carried out immediately:

1.1 Implement the strategies outlined in the "Memorandum of Understanding for the Establishment of the STZC", signed by the Foreign Ministers and in the approved Immediate Plan of Action, which must be co-ordinated and executed by Tourism Ministries or Corporations and other competent bodies, and are defined in the following areas:

Culture and Identity

Community Participation

Environment

Technology for Sustainability

Economic Policies and Instruments

Tourism Marketing

Education

Legal Framework

Sustainability indicators

Air and Maritime Transport

Co-ordination with the private sector

Information Centre

1.2 Request that the relevant public sector entities begin to implement the actions considered immediate in this Plan, in close collaboration with the private sector and the other actors involved.

Follow up the mandates issued by the First Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, regarding trade liberalisation, investment promotion and facilitation and inter-institutional co-operation among the members of the Association of Caribbean States.

Within the framework of Article XX of the Convention Establishing the ACS, which allows Member States to undertake initiatives and conclude integration agreements among themselves, whenever these are consistent with the purposes and functions of this Convention, the countries concerned, according to their priorities, shall continue to promote bilateral trade agreements and preferential tariffs as identified in the initiative to establish the Caribbean Preferential Tariff (CPT).

Continue the task of identifying and then removing obstacles to intra-regional trade. To this end, business organisations in our countries shall be consulted.

Prepare an annual progress report on the bilateral and sub-regional integration process. This report must be presented at Ordinary Meetings of the Ministerial Council, once it has been approved by the Committee.

Promote Permanent Business Fora in the Caribbean.

Guarantee that any officially promoted regional business forum is done in consultation with the Special Committee so that such events can be promoted as much as possible among the countries of the Caribbean, thereby facilitating contacts among the businessmen of the region.

Prepare every six months a directory of Internet resources by subject area, containing useful information for the development of trade and investment, identifying national or regional sources which provide information on trade and investment trends and opportunities, and ensuring that this directory is available on the ACS Home Page.

Design a trade facilitation programme at the regional level which could include trade promotion and development services as well as information on facilitating access to other markets.

Convene a meeting of the trade and investment promoting organisations of the Caribbean, which would exchange experiences and identify possible areas of co-operation, within the framework of the Special Committee on Trade Development and External Economic Relations.

Identify measures for the establishment of special and differential treatment for the small economies of the region within the framework of the different aspects of trade being negotiated. There will be taken, as a point of reference, negotiations carried out or ongoing in the countries of the ACS and any other study or experience of negotiation in which ACS Members have been involved.

Promote technical and financial assistance for the countries of the Caribbean

region considered small economies, particularly in the areas of legislation, institutional development, training, implementation of studies, and information infrastructure equipment, in accordance with the priorities defined by the countries.

Develop training programmes with the support of specialised agencies and academic institutions, with special emphasis on the training of professional teams of negotiators in trade-related disciplines, both at the public and private sector levels.

In the process of integrating both air and maritime transport, and to consolidate the Programme "Uniting the Caribbean by Air and Sea", the following priority action must be taken:

3.1 Form a group of experts to work on the definition of general elements to evaluate the possibility of adopting a common air transport policy in the ACS, which would foster increased functional co-operation and improvement of airport services, to be submitted to the proposed Meeting of Transport Ministers.

3.2 Instruct Ministers responsible for the area of Transport to meet with the aim of seeking closer political and technical relations that would make it possible to achieve the objectives of the Programme "Uniting the Caribbean by Air and Sea".

3.3 Follow up on the tasks assigned during the First Meeting of Airline Executives and Aviation Authorities of the Region, convened by the ACS, particularly those linked to the implementation of functional co-operation among Caribbean airlines.

3.4 Promote among ACS Members the study of the different modalities of agreements for establishing the "Common Air Policy in the Caribbean", based on research carried out by the Committee.

3.5 Continue working towards a definition of transhipment and cargo distribution centres in the ACS, with the aim of optimising the use of the most adequate ports and port services in the region, thereby promoting intra-regional trade.

3.6 Promote the use of electronic navigation maps with the aim of having dependable instruments for the detection of specific areas of risks and resources in the sea, and to increase the safety of maritime navigation in the Caribbean.

3.7 Promote multi-modal transport within the region in order to increase efficiency and reduce the costs of maritime transport, which will result in increased intra-regional trade in goods.

3.8 Promote training activities for maritime operators and the development of human resources, through co-operation agreements between regional technical training centres and those in Members of the ACS that offer such facilities.

3.9 Elaborate a directory of companies specialised in the business of maritime transport, which would facilitate a reliable regional data base, which would permit continuous updating.

3.10 Urge ACS Members party to international conventions on safety at sea, the prevention of pollution by boats, and standards of training, certification and maritime vigilance, to comply with these conventions.

3.11 Convene a meeting of providers of maritime services with the aim of complementing efforts to make their activities commercially viable and profitable.

3.12 Encourage ACS Members which have not yet done so, to accede to, ratify or adhere to, as the case may be, the FAL Convention of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), with the aim of establishing uniform systems and facilitating international maritime traffic among them.

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

To implement the Caribbean Environmental Strategy in the shortest possible time, in fulfilment of the principle enshrined in the Convention Establishing the ACS, to preserve the integrity of the Caribbean Sea as an asset common to the countries of the region, the following action must be undertaken:

4.1 Define an appropriate communication methodology for co-ordinating common positions of ACS Members, in specialised fora on the subject.

4.2 Encourage the exchange of experience on the environmentally sustainable use of traditional sources of energy and the generation of alternative energy .

4.3 Promote measures for ACS Members to access the United Nations technical assistance and information programmes - SIDS/TAPS and SIDS/NET.

4.4 Promote training, education and sensitisation programmes on environmental protection and natural resources at primary, secondary, tertiary and community levels, in co-ordination with the Special Committees on Science, Technology, Health, Education and Culture, and on Tourism.

4.5 Co-ordinate action for obtaining technical and financial assistance from regional and international institutions specialised in the protection of forestry resources and protected natural areas.

4.6 Foster the creation and/or strengthening of National Sustainable Development Councils, to encourage fulfilment of the commitments made under Agenda 21.

4.7 Encourage the presentation to the ACS Special Fund of innovative, low-cost projects which facilitate the participation of civil society, in alliance with local governments, for environmental protection and management, conservation of biological diversity, and natural resources management.

4.8 Promote that planning policies of ACS Members be aimed at integrating environmental matters, land use policies, and disaster prevention and mitigation, in the context of sustainable development.

With the aim of implementing the Regional Co-operation Agreement on Natural Disasters, signed by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the following actions will be undertaken:

5.1 Recommend to the Ministerial Council that, as stipulated in the request made by the Special Group on Natural Disasters, the possibility of elevating that Group to the status of a Special Committee be analysed, bearing in mind the importance of the subject and the presence in the region of existing co-ordination mechanisms, particularly the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) and the Centre for the Co-ordination of Disaster Prevention in Central America (CEPREDENAC).

5.2 Instruct the Special Committee responsible for the subject of Natural Disasters to implement and follow up on the "Regional Co-operation Agreement on Natural Disasters".

5.3 Develop mechanisms to enable the Association to become a forum to secure political support to reinforce actions taken by governments and regional agencies specialised in disaster management, particularly CDERA and CEPREDENAC.

6.1 Develop the Mechanism for Co-operation in Science and Technology, taking into account the need for it to be closely linked to the initiative for the creation of the STZC, as well as those related to other areas considered priorities in the Declaration of Santo Domingo. This should require concentration of efforts on those tasks aimed at:

Creating and consolidating a scientific and technological culture at all social levels in such a way as to generate the conditions for its permanent modernisation;

Supporting basic and applied research through the substantial increase in investment in infrastructure and the training of scientists and engineers in charge of Research and Development (R&D) activities;

Promoting the creation of intramural R&D capacities in companies;

Encouraging dialogue between academic institutions and industry and increasing co-operation and exchanges between them;

Forming regional alliances to analyse common problems through regional and national R&D institutions;

Promoting access of developing countries to modern technology and specialised knowledge, including the possibility of the transfer of technology.

6.2 Execute the projects on coastal eco-systems and the evaluation of the impact of the change in sea levels on ground water reserves of the Caribbean islands, as well as the incorporation of their results into the policy formation process of our respective governments.

6.3 Identify the possibilities offered by scientific and technological networks in which ACS Members participate, trying to maximise their potential and complement them where possible, with specific actions generated and executed within the framework of the ACS.

Taking into account that access to information and telecommunications constitutes a strategic element for regional integration, it is necessary to develop a strategic plan aimed at networking the region using the most advanced technologies. To achieve this, we agree to:

7.1 Establish a virtual telecommunications network, using the Internet and facilities of existing telecommunications providers, in order to connect ACS Members and facilitate the holding of electronic conferences and virtual meetings, which would provide a dynamic and low cost medium of electronic communication and greater access to information.

7.2 Consolidate initiatives geared towards improving communication between the Secretariat, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, and diplomatic missions. At a later stage, the range of users of the network would extend to the social actors connected with the Association.

7.3 Give priority to the initiatives undertaken by Governments that would help to prepare the region for the Y2K problem.

7.4 Support the consolidation of the Latin American and Caribbean Cultural Information System (SICLAC).

Instruct the health authorities of ACS Members to co-operate with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) in designing an epidemiological strategy and a regional programme for co-operation in emergent and re-emergent diseases, with the support of national and regional health institutions. The definition of this strategy and programmes will be realised through the convening of a meeting of national health authorities of ACS Members.

9.1 Create a working group, comprising governmental authorities, to co-ordinate the official education institutions in order to carry out a study on educational standards and certification levels in the technical schools and universities of the region.

9.2 Support the convening of the Second Meeting of University Authorities of the Members of the ACS, with the mandate of studying the possibility of formulating proposals for the establishment and monitoring of these standards and levels.

9.3 Foster inter-university co-operation, particularly with regard to the development of human resource training programmes in the tourism sector.

9.4 Promote co-operation among university centres for Latin American and Caribbean Studies in the region, with the aim of encouraging research, student and lecturer exchanges, scholarships, assistantships and sabbaticals for teaching staff from these institutions.

9.5 Promote measures whereby educational institutions, tourism and cultural development agencies can implement the specialised programmes of the Centres of Excellence specialising in the teaching of the official languages of the ACS.

10.1 Promote the convening of a forum on the Caribbean region for reflection on its future and in the context of the new millennium.

10.2 Design a calendar of cultural events and a guide of public and private cultural institutions of ACS Members, through national cultural organisations, tourism development agencies, transport operators, with a view to increasing cultural integration and mutual knowledge, as well as the promotion of intra-regional tourism.

10.3 Design a programme of activities for the cultural integration of the Caribbean region, in collaboration with national and international agencies drawn from this sector, aimed at fostering a better understanding of the culture, patrimony and identity of our countries.

10.4 Request the active participation of countries in the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) to be held in St. Kitts and Nevis in the year 2000.

Bearing in mind the importance of strengthening the ACS Special Fund, as a means of ensuring the execution of activities identified for technical co-operation and research, projects which meet the necessary standards will be presented to international sources of co-operation and financing. Methods of promoting and fine-tuning the negotiation of agreements between the Association and potential co-operating countries and organisations will be sought.

12.1 Carry out a detailed analysis of the finances and administration of the Secretariat for the period 1996-1999, to be presented for evaluation at the Fifth Ordinary Meeting of the Ministerial Council, to be held in Panama, in December 1999.

12.2 Examine the results of the report on the finances and the mandates emanating from the Declaration of Santo Domingo, in order to revise the ACS budget heads to be applied from the year 2000, for which a proposal should be presented for the consideration of the Fifth Ordinary Meeting of the Ministerial Council.

12.3 Strengthen ties with the Founding Observers (CARICOM, SICA, SIECA and SELA) and other regional organisations within the ACS framework of action, to ensure the development of collaboration programmes and avoid the duplication of efforts.

The execution of this Plan of Action will require a common effort, which will be complemented with resources from international co-operation. This will be promoted through the ACS Special Fund in accordance with its Operational Regulations and Project Presentation Manual.