The Government is advancing on preparations for the II Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Association of Caribbean States. The event opens in Santo Domingo 16 April. Some 25 nations make up the association. Delegations from 14 Caribbean Community nations; Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia; and Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica in Central America; and Cuba, Haiti and the DR in the Caribbean have confirmed attendance. During the meeting, the Strategic Alliance of the Caribbean, proposed by President Leonel Fern?ndez during the first summit held in Santo Domingo last year, will be discussed. In addition to statesmen from the Caribbean, the presidents of Mexico and Colombia are expected to attend the summit. The strategic alliance would create a free trade area of goods, services, between the countries of CARICOM, Central America, Panama, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, a market of more than 60 million consumers, an exercise in intra-regional free trade in preparation for our integration into the Free Trade Area Agreement in 2005 and into the global economy.
