The Caribbean Free Trade Association
(CARIFTA) was founded by Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad
and Tobago on 15 December 1965, with the signing of the Dickenson Bay
Agreement (the Agreement establishing the Caribbean Free Trade Association).
They were joined on 1 July, 1968 by Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla,
Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines; and on 1 August, 1968
by Montserrat and Jamaica. In 1971 Belize (then British Honduras) joined
the Association.
These Caribbean countries had recently
become independent, and CARIFTA was intended to unite their economies
and to give them a joint presence on the international scene.
Specifically, CARIFTA was
intended to encourage balanced development of the Region by:
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• increasing
trade - buying and selling more goods among the Member States
• diversifying trade - expanding the variety of goods and services available
for trade
• liberalising trade - removing tariffs and quotas on goods produced and
traded within the area
• ensuring fair competition - setting up rules for all members to follow
to protect the smaller enterprises
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In addition to providing for
free trade, the Agreement sought to:
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• ensure
that the benefits of free trade were equitably distributed
• promote industrial development in the LDCs
• promote the development of the coconut industry (through an Oils and
Fats Agreement) which was significant in many of the LDCs
• rationalise agricultural production but in the interim, facilitate the
marketing of selected agricultural products of particular interest to the LDCs
(through the Agricultural Marketing Protocol); and
• provide a longer period to phase out customs duty on certain products
which were more important for the revenue of the LDCs
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In
1973, CARIFTA became the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
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