High Commission of India, Georgetown, Guyana
Bilateral Brief – India-CARICOM Bilateral Brief – India-CARICOM

Bilateral Brief – India-CARICOM

High Commission of India

Georgetown

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India-CARICOM Bilateral Relations

  1. Membership: CARICOM, Caribbean Community and Common Market, which is known as the Caribbean Community, was established on 4th July 1973 by the Treaty of Chaguaramas, and has 15 members – Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos Islands are Associate Members of the Community.
  2. Accreditation: CARICOM is headquartered in Georgetown, Guyana. The High Commissioner of India in Georgetown is accredited to it as Ambassador
  3. Engagement: First political visit from CARICOM to India was in November 2003 when a delegation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Jamaica and the then Chairman of the Community Council Hon. K.D. Knight, visited India which resulted in signing of an agreement establishing a Standing Joint Commission on Consultation, Cooperation and Coordination. This was followed by the first meeting of India-CARICOM Foreign Ministers on 15th February 2005 at Paramaribo (Suriname) on the sidelines of CARICOM Summit. First Meeting of the India-CARICOM Joint Commission was held in Georgetown on 2nd June 2015. Second India–CARICOM Ministerial Meeting held in New York on September 30, 2015 on the margins of the 70th session of the UNGA. Third India-CARICOM Ministerial Meeting was also held on the sidelines of UNGA at New York on 19 September 2017. First India-CARICOM Summit was held on 25 September 2019 on the sidelines of UNGA led by Hon PM. India formally participated for the first time in a Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) meeting on 21 April 2023 during the visit of Hon. EAM to Georgetown, Guyana at CARICOM headquarters. It was followed by COFCOR meeting in Sept 2024 on the sidelines of UNGA. 2nd India-CARICOM Joint Commission was held virtually on 06 November 2024. 2nd India-CARICOM Summit held on 20 November 2024 was co-chaired by Hon’ble PM, along with PM of Grenada Dickon Mitchel during former’s visit to Guyana.
  4. Institutional Dialogue Mechanism: The agreement to establish a Standing Joint Commission on Consultation, Cooperation and Coordination was signed between India and CARICOM in November 2003 and its first meeting took place only in 2015. 2nd JCM was held virtually on 6 November 2024. 
  5. Capacity Building: A training programme on capacity building in Strategic Planning, Project Management and Monitoring & Evaluation was conducted by two experts from the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Ahmadabad from 10-20 July 2017 at the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown. A special training programme for mid-level CARICOM diplomats was conducted from 13-24 November 2017 at Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi in which 25 diplomats from the CARICOM participated. 2nd Special Programme was held in August 2019 with the participation of 23 diplomats from 10 countries. Two CARICOM officers attended the G20 Conference titled "Crime and Security in the age of NFTs, AI and Metaverse" on 13-14 July 2023.
  6. Trade & Investment: The total bilateral trade between India and CARICOM in 2023-24 stood at US$ 986.86 million with Indian exports of US$ 627.66 million and Indian imports of US$ 359.20 million. Guyana, Trinidad, Haiti, Jamaica and Suriname are the major trading partners for India in the region. CARICOM’s major imports from India include pharmaceutical products, surgical instruments, iron and steel, articles of iron & steel, clothing and accessories, articles of plastic, articles of rubber, tea, coffee, spices, fabrics, textiles, carpets, yarn, twine, tobacco products, organic and miscellaneous chemicals, dairy products, appliances and parts, vehicle parts and accessories, ceramic products, electronic goods, etc. CARICOM’s top exports to India include mineral fuels, mineral oils and products, bituminous substances, aluminium ores and concentrates, wood and wood products, essential oils, copper scrap, cast iron scrap, aluminium scrap, other metal scraps and batteries scrap etc.
  7. Development Cooperation: During the third India-CARICOM Ministerial Meeting in September 2017, India offered emergency aid of US$ 200,000/- to the worst affected CARICOM countries (US$ 100,000 each to Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica) and additional US$ 2 million from the India-UN Partnership Fund for South-South Cooperation for rehabilitation projects in CARICOM. In the first India-CARICOM Summit held in 2019, India offered US$ 14 million Grant (US$ 1million per CARICOM member state) for quick impact community development projects; US$ 150 million Line of Credit (US$ 10 million per CARICOM member state) for solar energy and climate change related projects; and special capacity building courses, training and deputation of experts based on CARICOM requirements. During the India-CARICOM Foreign Ministerial Meeting held in Georgetown in April 2023, India offered US$ 1 million Grant and five Quick Impact Development Projects for US$ 50,000 in a year to CARICOM Member States to support small and medium-scale enterprises and socio-economic development and social infrastructure. In the 2nd India-CARICOM Summit held on 20 November 2024, Hon. PM offered assistance to CARICOM countries in seven key areas, i.e. capacity building, agriculture and food security, renewable energy and climate change, innovation, technology and trade, cricket and culture, ocean economy and maritime security, medicine and healthcare.

ICT Centres have been established in Grenada and Guyana. Under ITEC Programme, an Indian fisheries expert/scientist Dr.Pranaya Kumar Parida, was deputed to the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism in St. Vincent and the Grenadines from December 2022 to January 2025 for assisting with fisheries assessment/statistical analysis/development plan formulation activities for CARICOM.

  1. Culture, Sports & people-to-people ties: More than half a million Indians were brought to the Caribbean between 1838 and 1917 by the British to work as indentured labour in the sugar plantations. They have kept the Indian cultural traditions and heritage alive. Annual cultural event on the lines of proposed annual business event is yet to take place. Common love for cricket and Indian movies is another important area for cementing people-to-people ties. The past and present cricketers from this region are household names in India. A number of renowned cricketers from West Indies participate in IPL too.

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June 2025