A few years ago, in April 1999, the Heads of State and/or
Government of the Association of Caribbean States met in Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic, at the association’s second
summit.
During that meeting, several co-operation instruments were
signed, among which emphasis was placed on the strategy for
uniting the Caribbean by air and sea, since transport was
undoubtedly the common denominator for the development of
the other subject areas of the association, namely trade,
tourism and natural disasters.
In recent years, there have been various transport initiatives
within the hemisphere that were unsuccessfully established
and failed to take root in the different integration schemes
toward a globalised environment.
For its part, the strategy for uniting the Caribbean by
air and sea is still a vibrant initiative, with a broad perspective
and several projects to be developed.
In the area of maritime transport, the sector has had to
deal with a series of changes with respect to the implementation
of procedures and technologies related to port and vessel
security. In reviewing the achievements made by the majority
of the countries of the region regarding this challenge, we
can say that the advancements are absolutely positive.
Although this effort has required great attention, there
still remain within the sector countless initiatives and projects
geared toward rendering the operation more efficient, with
the intention of being increasingly competitive, not only
in terms of the quality of services offered outside the region,
but to be prepared within intra-regional competitive schemes.
One of the most significant projects included in this strategy
is that on the maritime port database, since it will examine
port facilities as well as cargo, for the purpose of increasing
the trade flows of the region and thus improving the cost
of maritime transport in the Caribbean.
Some of the initiatives and projects still maintained by
the strategy and which are in the process of being implemented
are the “creation of the maritime port system of the
Greater Caribbean” (maritime corporate image), “database
of problems and proposed solutions regarding regional maritime-port
activity,” and the reformulated project on the “creation
of a co-ordinating centre for research, consultation and training
to the benefit of ACS member countries.”
In the area of air transport, there have been significant
advancements with respect to the signing of the Multilateral
Air Transport Agreement, which already has 50 per cent of
the signatures of all member states and associate members,
and they have not prevented the multilateral agreement from
serving as a reference framework in regional bilateral agreements
to liberalise the provision of air transport services.
The aforementioned agreement is of prime importance these
days, when we constantly hear that air transport service providers
are encountering financial problems, or that numerous travellers
have been left stranded or have had to wait many hours or
days in some airport within the region.
Unfortunately, this phenomenon is not peculiar to the region
since it also occurs regularly within the hemisphere and around
the world. As a result, the ACS has taken up the task of preparing
a user booklet containing the rights and obligations of the
individual utilising the service.
With every day that passes, this strategy for uniting the
Caribbean by air and sea is becoming stronger and more important
for the countries of the region.
Carlos Dávila Sánchez is the Director of
Natural Disasters and Transport of the Association of Caribbean
States. The views expressed are not necessarily the official
views of the ACS. Feedback can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org
