Caribbean Community

Caribbean Community Communauté Caribéenne  (French) Caribische Gemeenschap  (Dutch)
Flag
Anthem: Celebrating CARICOM
Dark green: Full CARICOM members. Lime green: Associate CARICOM members. Pistachio: Observers.
Seat of Secretariat	Georgetown, Guyana
Largest cities	Port-au-Prince
Official languages	English, French, Dutch
Type	Supranational organisation
Member states	15 full members  Antigua and Barbuda  Bahamas  Barbados  Belize  Dominica  Grenada  Guyana  Haiti  Jamaica  Montserrat  St Kitts & Nevis  Saint Lucia  St Vincent & Grenadines  Suriname  Trinidad and Tobago 5 associates  Anguilla  Bermuda  British Virgin Islands  Cayman Islands  Turks & Caicos Islands 8 observers  Aruba  Colombia  Curaçao  Dominican Republic  Mexico  Puerto Rico  Sint Maarten  U.S. Virgin Islands  Venezuela
Leaders
• Secretary-General	Irwin LaRocque
• Chairman	Dean Barrow
Establishment
• Treaty of Chaguaramas	4 July 1973
• Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas	2001
Area
• Total	458,480 km2 (177,020 sq mi)
Population
• 2010 estimate	16,743,693
• Density	34.8/km2 (90.1/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2012 estimate
• Total	$107.82 billion
• Per capita	$6,439
GDP (nominal)	2010 estimate
• Total	$64,771 billion (65)
• Per capita	$8,116 (67)
HDI (2012)	0.719 high
Website CARICOM.org

Established in 1973, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is an organization of fifteen Caribbean nations and dependencies. CARICOM's main purposes are to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, to ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and to coordinate foreign policy. Its major activities involve coordinating economic policies and development planning; devising and instituting special projects for the less-developed countries within its jurisdiction; operating as a regional single market for many of its members (Caricom Single Market); and handling regional trade disputes. The secretariat headquarters is based in Georgetown, Guyana.

Established mainly by the English-speaking parts of the Caribbean, CARICOM has become multilingual in practice with the addition of Dutch-speaking Suriname on 4 July 1995 and French- (and Haitian Kreyòl-) speaking Haiti on 2 July 2002. Furthermore, it was suggested that Spanish should also become a working language. In July 2012, CARICOM announced that they were considering making French and Dutch official languages.In 2001, the heads of government signed a revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that cleared the way to transform the idea of a common market CARICOM into a Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy. Part of the revised treaty establishes and implements the Caribbean Court of Justice. Since 2013, the CARICOM-bloc and the Dominican Republic have been tied to the European Commission via an Economic Partnership Agreements known as CARIFORUM signed in 2008. The treaty grants all members of the European Union and CARIFORUM equal rights in terms of trade and investment. Within the agreement under Article 234, the European Court of Justice also carries dispute resolution mechanisms between CARIFORUM and the European Union states.