How many caricom member states are there

Lucia, Suriname, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. The Cayman Islands became the fourth Associate Member of the regional grouping in , and Bermuda the fifth Associate Member in Suriname became the 14th Member State of the Caribbean Community in Its major activities involve coordinating economic policies and development planning; devising and instituting special projects for the less-developed countries within its jurisdiction; operating as a regional single market for many of its members CARICOM Single Market ; and handling regional trade disputes.

Its headquarters is based in Georgetown, Guyana. Skip to content Jamaica Information Service. Government of Jamaica. Andrew Heritage Sites St. Functional cooperation, in various conceptions, has always been a quest for countries of the Caribbean.

From the early efforts for a political union which led to the establishment of the West Indies Federation , to the deeper and more structured engagements of the Caribbean Free Trade Association CARIFTA , to the more sustained measure of regional integration through a Caribbean Community The last, for Member States, offered the best prospect for Caribbean economic development.

Montserrat Members , Montserrat 0. Suriname Members , Quasi Cabinet , Suriname 0. Anguilla Anguilla , Associate Members 0. Bermuda Associate Members , Bermuda 0. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. The Caribbean Community and Common Market CARICOM is a group of twenty developing countries in the Caribbean that have come together to form an economic and political community that works together to shape policies for the region and encourages economic growth and trade.

Fifteen of these countries are full-fledged members of the community, while five of them only retain associate member status. The fifteen full-time countries are as follows:. Associate members retain part-time privileges.

These nations have collectively joined together to expand their trade and economic relations internationally, including further development of activity in international markets. It was established to replace the Caribbean Free Trade Area, which had failed in its mission to develop policies in the region pertaining to labor and capital. A free trade area is a collection of multiple countries that have established a free trade market between their nations.

These markets will have very little, if any, tariffs on imports and exports. There will be no price controls enacted, either. The benefit of free trade areas is that they allow countries to cease competing with one another for market shares on certain products and instead allow them to focus on the products that they are most qualified to produce, or resources that they alone possess.

This also presents an advantage to consumers as they receive higher quality products at a lower price. It is hoped that such an economic unification would resolve a number of issues faced by small developing CARICOM economies that find it difficult to compete with larger international competitors on a global market.