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CUBA-CARICOM SUMMIT
Declaration of Havana
• Final declaration adopted
December 8, 2014, on the occasion of the Fifth Cuba-Caricom
Summit
We, the Heads of State and Government of the
Caribbean Community and of the Republic of Cuba,
meeting in Havana, Cuba, on 8 December 2014, on the
occasion of the Fifth CARICOM-Cuba Summit and in
commemoration of the Forty-Second anniversary of the
establishment of diplomatic relations among the
independent States of CARICOM and Cuba and the
Twelfth anniversary of Cuba-CARICOM Day;
Proud of our shared Caribbean identity and the
strong and high level of bilateral and political
relations, strengthened by the agreements we have
signed and in the context of the international fora,
that has permitted us to advance our national
development agenda on behalf of our peoples on the
basis of solidarity and regional cooperation;
Recalling the Declarations of Havana (2002),
Bridgetown (2005), Santiago de Cuba (2008) and
Port-of-Spain (2011), and recognizing their
significant contribution towards the strengthening
of the relations among our nations;
Aware of the importance of working together for the
sustainable development of our countries, that
allows us to build more inclusive societies and to
address our vulnerabilities as small developing
States, in particular Small Island Developing
States, especially in the environmental and economic
spheres;
Reiterating the need to pool our efforts in order to
improve the productivity, infrastructure, air and
sea connectivity of our countries, as well as to
broaden our economic and trade relations through the
implementation of the revised Trade and Economic
Cooperation Agreement between CARICOM and Cuba;
Recalling the importance of the consolidation of the
Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)
as a mechanism of political coordination and
promotion of the unity and integration of our
region, as well as the significance of its direct
efforts in the eradication 2 of poverty, hunger and
inequality within and amongst its Member States.
Agree as follows:
1. Reiterate that the unity and integration
of our Caribbean region is based on respect for the
Purposes and Principles enshrined in the Charter of
the United Nations and in International Law.
Therefore, we commit our wholehearted support to
sovereignty, self-determination, territorial
integrity, noninterference in internal affairs of
each country and the protection and promotion of all
human rights for all;
2. Welcome the outcomes of the regular
meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of CARICOM
and the Republic of Cuba to date, which continue to
serve as a platform for political engagement. These
meetings reinforce the commitment of our political
leaders to strengthening the bonds among our
countries;
3. Reaffirm our will to strengthen
South-South cooperation as an expression of
solidarity among our countries, for the promotion of
bilateral and regional programmes as well as
triangular cooperation for development, taking into
account the development priorities of our countries;
4. Recognize the cooperation between Cuba
and the countries of the Caribbean Community in
areas such as health, the development of human
resources, construction and sports, has effectively
contributed to the growth of wellbeing of our
peoples. In this regard, we express our sincere
appreciation to the government of Cuba for its
continued support and for the extension of this
goodwill for the financing of the Caribbean Regional
School of Arts in Jamaica, and the Centre for
Treatment of Physical Disabilities to assist
physically challenged children and youth, to be
based in Guyana, during the upcoming triennial
period. We express further appreciation for the
increase in under-graduate scholarships as well as
post-graduate scholarships for specialization in
Medicine, the increase in patient intake from
CARICOM States for free 3 medical care, as well as
training in disaster risk reduction and response to
natural disasters.
5. Reiterate our commitment to continue
promoting social initiatives as well as the
implementation of projects to improve the air and
sea infrastructure and connectivity between our
countries and broaden our economic and trade
relations through the implementation of the revised
Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement between
CARICOM and Cuba;
6. Welcome the progress in the negotiations
to expand market access and improve economic
cooperation under our Trade and Economic Cooperation
Agreement and encourage our officials to continue to
work in the spirit of solidarity and goodwill that
has characterized their efforts to date, in order to
conclude the negotiations by the end of the second
quarter of 2015;
7. Emphasize that the updating of Cuban
economic model, its Foreign Investment Law and the
Special Mariel Development Economic Zone, provide
additional opportunities, on a much broader scale,
to accelerate and strengthen CARICOM-Cuba economic
ties;
8. Recognize the importance to the Caribbean
countries to take advantage of the potential offered
by the regional and subregional mechanisms such as
CELAC, ACS, ALBA-TCP, PETROCARIBE, as well as
international mechanisms such as BRICS;
9. Reaffirm our solidarity with the Republic
of Haiti and reiterate our strong commitment to the
recovery efforts after the earthquake of 12 January
2010, in accordance with the priorities defined by
its government and fully respecting for its
sovereignty;
10. Affirm the commitments made at the Third
International Conference on Small Island Developing
States that took place in Apia, Samoa, 1st – 4 th
September 2014, as well as the commitments outlined
in the Outcome Document.4
11. Affirm also our readiness to work
together on a Regional Strategic Agenda to address
Disaster Risk Management in a comprehensive manner,
taking into account disaster risk estimates and
reduction, human assistance and reconstruction, in
accordance with United Nations General Assembly
Resolution 46/182, in order to address the serious
consequences of climate change in our countries;
12. Decide to strengthen our cooperation to
address the negative effects of climate change. In
this regard, we reiterate our call for a binding
agreement that will stabilize the rise of world
temperatures below the 2º C taking into account the
principle of common but differentiated
responsibilities and to address the needs of our
countries to the challenges of adapting to impacts
of climate change, in accordance with the Framework
Convention and the decisions of the Conferences of
the Parties;
13. Commit to strengthen cooperation for the
protection of the environment and the sustainable
use of our resources, in particular those in the
Caribbean Sea. In this regard, we support the
efforts made by the Association of Caribbean States
(ACS) to declare the Caribbean Sea a Special Area in
the Context of Sustainable Development within the UN
Framework;
14. Reaffirm that climate change is one of
the greatest challenges of our time, and we express
profound alarm that emissions of greenhouse gases
continue to rise globally. We are deeply concerned
that all countries, particularly developing
countries, are vulnerable to the adverse impacts of
climate change and are already experiencing an
increase in such impacts, including persistent
drought and extreme weather events, sealevel rise,
coastal erosion and ocean acidification, further
threatening food security and efforts to eradicate
poverty and achieve sustainable development. In this
regard, we emphasize that adaptation to climate
change represents an immediate and urgent global
priority;
15. Emphasize our commitment to combat
trafficking in persons, illicit drugs trafficking
and illicit trafficking of small arms, bearing in
mind the characteristics, scope and magnitude of
these problems in each individual State.
16. Develop cooperation in the area of
information and communication technologies (ICTs) in
full conformity with the principles of international
law, with the aim of promoting their contributions
to the sustainable development of the member states
of CARICOM and Cuba, particularly in the fields of
education, health care, science and technology,
innovation, agriculture and any other sector where
it may be required.
17. To continue moving forward on
cooperation in matters of food security, as a
decisive contribution towards the elimination of
hunger, poverty and margination, not only in the
area of the Caribbean but also on a world level, by
the intensification of our coordinated efforts and
interchanges in matters of agricultural technology,
nutrition and other sectors that contribute towards
that goal;
18. Welcome the immediate unified actions of
ALBA-TCP, Cuba and CARICOM, accompanied by the other
member countries of CELAC to prevent the spread of
the Ebola epidemic in our region and to deal with it
if necessary. We commit ourselves to promoting and
broadening said cooperation by adopting preventive
measures, training of qualified personnel, creating
institutions to carry out research on that disease;
19. Recognize the support and solidarity of
the Republic of Cuba in sending doctors and medical
personnel to the countries of West Africa affected
by the epidemic, and in training qualified personnel
in other African countries to prevent it from
spreading and be prepared to confront it;
20. Support efforts in preventing the entry,
spread and facilitating the treatment of
non-communicable diseases, HIV-AIDS and other
diseases such as Dengue and Chikungunya in our 6
countries. We also support projects aimed at
assisting differently-abled persons in the Region;
21. Demand an immediate end to the economic,
commercial and financial embargo imposed by the
government of the United States of America against
Cuba and, especially, to its extraterritorial nature
and the financial persecution of Cuban transactions,
whose severity increases daily; the inclusion of
Cuba on the List of States Sponsoring Terrorism,
prepared and published unilaterally by the US State
Department, and all undercover actions that the US
government is carrying out to subvert domestic law
and order in the Republic of Cuba, including those
that involve the illegal use of information and
communications technologies, that constitute
violations of Cuban sovereignty and its people’s
right to self-determination;
22. Reaffirm the unequivocal position of the
Caribbean Community in favour of Cuba attending the
Seventh Summit of the Americas in Panama, in April
2015, on an equal footing of sovereignty, and
without any conditions, which coincides with the
position of solidarity expressed in different fora
throughout the region;
23. Emphasize that the elaboration of the
Post-2015 Development Agenda must be a universal
process, open, transparent and inclusive, on the
basis of unrestricted respect for the Purposes and
Principles enshrined in the Charter of the United
Nations and focused on the three pillars of
sustainable development: economic, social and
environmental. In this context, we stress that said
Agenda must respond to the special needs of small
developing States, particularly Small Island
Developing States (SIDS), in accordance with their
respective national laws and development priorities
in respect to attaining sustainable development. The
Agenda should also incorporate all elements
conducive to Sustainable Development, in particular
culture, which must be a cross-cutting issue of the
Agenda and with respect to which specific goals in
the relevant objectives must be included;7
24. Affirm that even though middle-income
countries in the Caribbean region, have achieved
significant advances in fulfilling the Millennium
Development Goals, we still face enormous challenges
in our path to development, including those derived
from the nature of being small islands and those
related with climate change. In this context, we
reiterate our call to adopt indicators that suitably
reflect the realities of middle-income countries
and, in particular, the specific problems of the
Caribbean States, considering that the current
criteria referring to average incomes, especially
the criteria of per capita income indicators, do not
reflect the multidimensional effects of poverty,
inequality and vulnerability;
25. Celebrate with great pleasure the
successful outcome of the Second CELAC Summit in
Havana, held on the 28th and 29th of January of
2014, in particular the Declaration of Havana, the
historical Proclamation of Latin America and the
Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed by the Heads of
State and Government and the Special Declarations
regarding Small Island Developing States, the matter
of reparations for the slavery and native genocide
and the establishing of the China-CELAC Forum;
26. Reaffirm that the strengthening of CELAC
as a forum for dialogue and international political
actor is one of our priorities. In that context, we
consider it to be fundamental to continue
strengthening regional integration through political
dialogue, cooperation and increased trade among the
countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. In
that regard, we reaffirm the importance of CARICOM’s
active participation within CELAC and we emphasize
the inclusion of the CARICOM Presidency within the
CELAC Quartet;
27. Note the importance placed by the
Caribbean Community on the issue of reparation for
native genocide and Caribbean slavery and their
desire to engage with the European countries
intimately involved in native genocide and
slave-owning in a reparatory dialogue to address the
legacy of this crime against humanity;8
28. Express gratitude to the Government and
People of the Republic of Cuba for the warm welcome
and hospitality afforded to us during the Fifth
Summit of Heads of State and Government of the
Caribbean Community and the Republic of Cuba;
29. Decide to hold the Sixth CARICOM-Cuba
Summit on 8 December of 2017, in Antigua and Barbuda
and the Fifth Ministerial Meeting in Havana in the
month of June of 2016;
Adopted in Havana, Cuba, on the 8th day of the month
of December of 2014
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