Havana, Cuba.- The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba signed the Second Additional Protocol to the Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement they have been implementing, regional bloc announced in a press handout.

The Protocol was signed by CARICOM’s General Secretary, Irwin LaRocque, and the Cuban ambassador to Guyana and permanent representative to the organization, Julio César González Marchante, in the presence of the Ministers of Economy and Commerce of the entity.

The signing ceremony took place on the occasion of the 45th regular session of the Council for Trade and Economic Development on November 9 and 10, in Georgetown, CARICOM’s venue.

The bilateral instrument will allow establishing strategies to consolidate and strengthen the historical relations of economic cooperation between both parties. It expands the tariff preferences of more than 300 items for CARICOM and dozens of items for Cuba, while leaving normative issues updated.

This important action contributes to regional integration on the eve of the VI CARICOM-Cuba Summit to be held in Antigua and Barbuda next December 8, when 45 years of relations between the regional mechanism and the Caribbean island will be commemorated.