Barbados and CARICOM

The nation of Barbados has been an avid supporter of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Barbados was one of the four founding members in 1973 which then along with Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago moved to establish the organisation then known as the Caribbean Community and Common Market. This new organisation became a successor to the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) of which Barbados was also a member. The incoming representative of Barbados to CARICOM is Robert Bobby Morris, who will replace Dennis Kellman on 1 December 2011.

Within the CARICOM quasi-cabinet, the Barbadian head of government's responsibility is as the lead Head of Government for the Caribbean Single Market & Economy (CSME) in CARICOM. The former prime minister of Barbados Owen Arthur strongly lobbied the CARICOM heads to push the organisation beyond the goal of a mere Common market and instead transform it to a Caribbean one-Single Market and Economy.

Several organisations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) organisation are physically based in Barbados including:

• Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA)
• Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC)
• Caribbean Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ)

Barbados also maintains a Cabinet level position to the Caribbean Community.

For its own purposes the CARICOM organisation classifies its members as either More Developed Countries or Less developed countries. Barbados is classified as fitting into More Developed Country (MDC) range. As such, Barbados is a large stake holder in the CARICOM Regional Development Fund for other CARICOM member states to borrow.

Accreditation

The seat of Barbadian non-resident accreditation to the other countries of CARICOM is from Bridgetown, and is the same for all members. No members of CARICOM currently maintain resident accreditation to Bridgetown, Barbados. The accreditation to Barbados is the following:

• Antigua and Barbuda - from St. John's, Antigua
• The Bahamas - from Nassau, New Providence
• Belize - vacant
• Dominica - vacant
• Grenada - vacant
• Guyana - from Georgetown, Guyana
• Haiti - from Kingston, Jamaica
• Jamaica - from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
• Montserrat (U.K. overseas territory. Foreign relations is responsibility of the U.K. government.)
• Saint Kitts and Nevis - vacant
• Saint Lucia - vacant
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - vacant
• Suriname - from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
• Trinidad and Tobago - from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago