Above: El Salvador Foreign Minister Carlos Castaneda and Suriname Foreign Minister Winston Lackin

By the Caribbean Journal

CARICOM and SICA, the Central American Integration Movement, reaffirmed ties between the two regional economic integration bodies following their meeting yesterday in El Salvador.

The two bodies reaffirmed the “strategic value” of the CARICOM-SICA relationship, looking to enhance economic coordination in areas like tourism, investment and trade.

The two secretariats announced a plan to establish a mechanism to cooperate in promoting a regime for cultural industries, along with renewed cooperation efforts in the war on transnational drug trafficking.

“It is vital that we look closely at measures which will encourage and facilitate greater interaction between the people of our two regions at all levels — governmental, commercial, cultural and social,” said CARICOM Chairman Dr Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis.

Douglas cited commercial ventures that had been successful between SICA and CARICOM nations, including projects in telecommunications, airlift and distribution.

A joint statement included a desire to improve both air and maritime transportation between the two regions to increase trade, tourism and investment.

“This meeting is taking place in a global environment of constant change and transition. Survival in such a context demands a commonality of ambition and vision to ensure the strategic positioning of our regions in the hemispheric and global arenas.”