CELAC’s formal incorporation shall take place at the upcoming Unity Summit: III Latin America and the Caribbean Summit and the Rio Group. The CELAC will assume Rio Group’s heritage in the political arena. The Rio Group has traditionally been the political consensus mechanism for the region, fostering convergence on the region’s most critical issues, which allowed its international recognition. Regarding consensus in other areas, progress has been made with the adoption of regional interest agendas for topics defined in the Montego Bay Action Plan.
Colombia has supported the CELAC incorporation initiative, as a result of the convergence of the Rio Group and the Latin America and Caribbean Summit, in light of the need to focus on the integration and development agenda in order to improve the dialogue between CELAC member countries to favor the region’s international position.
Profile of the Organization
This mechanism was approved during the Unity Summit held in Cancun on February 23, 2010. It includes the 33 states of Central America, the Caribbean and South America: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, San Kitts & Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Surinam, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.
CELAC is a regional integration and political consensus mechanism that encompasses all Latin American and Caribbean countries. Its purpose is to embrace the legacy of the Rio Group and the Latin America and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development (CALC), in order to foster regional integration, political consensus, boost the Latin American and Caribbean agenda in global forums and strengthen cooperation. This new scenario constitutes a regional forum that gathers all Latin American and Caribbean states and a breakthrough in the integration processes of our nations.
An Extended Troika of the Rio Group has been established for its operation, to support the SPT (Chile), which also includes: Venezuela (SPT-CALC), México (Ex SPT-GRIO), Brazil (Ex SPT-CALC) and Jamaica (venue of the Montego Bay ministerial meetings and in representation of the Caricom).
Current News
As a result of the Unity Summit Declaration in February 2010, the task of the CALC has focused on implementing the Montego Bay Action Plan, the main objective of which involves managing the convergence of the Rio Group and CALC processes on the road to becoming the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States – CELAC.
The Montego Bay Action Plan set forth nine action lines: Coordination among regional integration mechanisms, international financial crisis, energy, infrastructure, social development and hunger eradication, food and nutrition security, sustainable development, disasters, climate change.
In furtherance of this Plan, the Caracas Work Programme has been established with a schedule of sectoral meetings for each one of the abovementioned topics. Furthermore, the high-ranking officials have been working on the organization’s bylaws.
