Above: Havana
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Member states of the Caribbean Community began meeting with the government of Cuba in Havana this weekend for the fifth Cuba-CARICOM summit.
The talks were expected to focus on economic and trade relations, according to a statement released by CARICOM.
The bilateral summit is held every three years; it began on Sunday with a meeting of regional foreign ministers.
CARICOM said Monday’s meeting would “give the Leaders an opportunity to look at the present situation with the Trade and Economic Agreement which the two parties signed in 2000.”
“They will benefit from the result of discussion held last October in Havana by the CARICOM-Cuba Joint Commission which sought ways of making the Agreement more effective,” the regional body said.
Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Cuba Prseident Raul Castro and CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRocque were set to launch the ceremony Sunday night.