4 February 2012: The Second Meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-Chile Joint Commission agreed to intensify political dialogue and cooperation to achieve sustainable development and greater well-being for their peoples.
Held in Santiago, Chile, from 3-4 February 2012, the Joint Commission meeting was co-chaired by Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno Charma and by the Chair of the CARICOM Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR), Timothy Harris, Minister of International Trade, Industry and Commerce of St. Kitts and Nevis.
The two sides agreed to continue developing and expanding cooperation programmes in priority areas, including: disaster management; sustainable agriculture, food and nutrition security, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures; capacity building; private enterprise and competitiveness; and trade negotiation training.
Chile and CARICOM agreed to examine the possibility of cooperation between Chile and Caribbean agencies such as the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the CARICOM Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CFRAM) and the Caribbean Agricultural and Health Safety Agency (CAFHSA).
They also resolved to work together to ensure the success of the recently formed Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), of which Chile is the current holding the Presidency pro tempore. Chile pledged to ensure that issues important to CARICOM are duly recognized and addressed by CELAC, and the two sides agreed that CARICOM member States should have a representational seat on the CELAC trioka. They further pledged to work together to ensure the success of the January 2013 CELAC-EU Summit to be held in Santiago under the theme “Alliance for Sustainable Development: Promoting Social and Environmental Quality Investment.”
The Joint Commission was created by a political, commercial, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation agreement signed between CARICOM and Chile in May 1996. The first session of the Joint Commission was held in June 2003. [Final Act of the CARICOM-Chile Joint Commission]