CARICOM, Caribbean Community and Common Market, which is now 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, Monsterrat, 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.

The High Commissioner of India in Georgetown is accredited as Ambassador to CARICOM headquartered at Georgetown. While India has diplomatic relations with the individual Caribbean countries for a long time, it is of late that India though of developing relations with CARICOM countries as a group. A CARICOM delegation under the leadership of Hon’ble K.D. Knight, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Jamaica and the then Chairman of the Community Council, visited India in November 2003. The major outcome of the visit was that an agreement was signed between India and CARICOM Secretariat for establishing a Standing Joint Commission on Consultation, Cooperation and Coordination.

The first meeting of India-CARICOM Foreign Ministers was held on 15th February 2005 at Paramaribo (Suriname) on the sidelines of CARICOM Summit. Indian delegation was led by the Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, whereas Foreign Minister of Barbados headed the CARICOM delegation. Possible areas of cooperation identified at this meeting included India’s membership of the Caribbean Development Bank (through which India would be able to co-finance development and integration projects in the region), promotion of trade in goods, services and investments with greater Indian participation in Caribbean infrastructure development and regional investment, supply of retroviral drugs for fighting HIV/AIDS.