Above: Martinique (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Guadeloupe, Martinique and St Maarten have all joined the Association of Caribbean States as associate members.

The three Caribbean territories acceded to the ACS during the regional group’s Ministerial Council meeting in Trinidad last week.

“It is important that we remain a player in the region and that we strengthen the bonds between us and the Nations of the Caribbean,” St Maarten Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Wiliams said following the move. “One of the things I have been stressing on is regarding are our responsibilities and roles that we have to take on as a country. One of those is participation in regional and international organizations. Now we have the capacity to meet with the ACS which us a voice in the region.”

Serge Letchimy, president of Martinique’s Regional Council, said regional integration had been a priority of his tenure, with a view toward “anchoring Martinique in its geographical environment.”

The territories’ accession to the ACS was first announced

Martinique and Guadeloupe’s relationship with the sovereign territories of the Caribbean and how it should develop continues to be a question for the region.

Last year, a report recommended that Martinique and Guadeloupe integrate economically with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States.