TRADE, Investment, Tourism and Cooperation will feature prominently when Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Mexico meet in Barbados  tomorrow for their second Summit . The first was held in Mexico in 2010.  Tomorrow’s Summit was preceded by a meeting yesterday of the CARICOM-Mexico Joint Commission, and another today of the Foreign Ministers of both sides.
Mexico was the first country to form a Joint Commission with the Community, having signed the agreement in 1974.
CARICOM leaders will also take the opportunity to impress upon Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, the importance of Mexico continuing to advocate on the Community’s behalf with respect to reform of the International Financial Institutions (IFI) at a meeting of the G20, which Mexico will be hosting next June.
CARICOM Heads of Government, at a short meeting with President Calderon in Cartagena last month during the Sixth Summit of the Americas, expressed their concerns, since many CARICOM member states are classified as Small Highly Indebted Middle Income Countries, and are prohibited from access to the more concessional facilities and instruments from the IFIs.
Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, President  Desire Bouterse  of Suriname; the Mexican President; and CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque will address the opening ceremony of the Summit at the Barbados Hilton, which begins at 10:30am.
Relations between CARICOM and Mexico are based on an agreement signed in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1974, the objective of which is to identify and promote cooperation initiatives in order to enlarge economic, political and cultural relations.
This was advanced in 2009 during the Fifth Meeting of the Joint Commission, when both sides signed a Declaration in which they expressed their commitment to promoting cooperation in areas such as trade and investment, air and maritime transport, financial services, security, health, energy and climate change.  (CARICOM Secretariat)