CARICOM Chairman, Hon. Allen Chastanet, recently held discussions with US counterparts on the Caribbean Basin Initiative.

The trade programs known collectively as the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) remain important elements of US economic relations with the Caribbean. The CBI is intended to facilitate the development of stable Caribbean economies by providing beneficiary countries with duty-free access to the US market for most goods.

Chairman of CARICOM and Prime Minister Hon. Allen Chastanet indicated that he has been dialoguing with US Congressman, Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on a number of initiatives including immigration, free borders and security, all of which he explained, can be beneficial to the Caribbean. The prime minister added that parts of the US and the Caribbean are faced with similar challenges. As a result, it is important that the US and the Caribbean work together on such issues.

The CBI was launched in 1983 through the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act and expanded in 2000 by the US-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act; and again by the Trade Act of 2002.

It was implemented on January 1, 1984 and has no set expiration date.