GEORGETOWN, Guyana \u2013\u00a0 France on Friday said it will continue to work alongside its overseas communities to support their regional integration after Paris gave the green light to Martinique for the agreement on accession to the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).<\/p>\n
![\"carmiafr\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/carmiafr.jpg\")
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, then CARICOM chair, signs the agreement signed on 20 February 2025 in Bridgetown (CMC File Photo)A statement issued by the French Embassy here said that the approval of the CARICOM Agreement on Privileges and Immunities is regarded as \u201ca decisive step towards the regional integration of overseas territories\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement said that the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot, and the Minister for Overseas Territories, Mrs Na\u00efma Moutchou, welcome the National Assembly\u2019s approval on Thurdday of the agreement on accession.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing the Senate\u2019s vote last January, Parliament has now authorised the final approval of this agreement within a tight timeframe,\u201d the statement said, adding that \u201cthis marks a major step forward in strengthening relations between France and CARICOM, as well as in furthering the regional integration of French overseas communities in the Americas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis agreement allows the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique to join as an associate member, in accordance with the agreement signed on 20 February 2025 in Bridgetown (Barbados). It also paves the way for the other territorial collectivities of the Antilles-Guyana region to join as associate members,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n
The European country said it has fully rallied behind Martinique to support \u201cthis complex legal process, which involves the interplay between domestic law, European Union law and CARICOM\u2019s own rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis development now opens up concrete prospects: Martinique, along with other territories that might join CARICOM as associate members, will be able to participate in the work of the organisation and its agencies, gain access to more comprehensive information on regional developments, and strengthen their capacity to take action within their immediate geographical environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement said that this involvement will thus complement the existing engagement of French communities in the Americas within regional Caribbean organisations, notably the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).<\/p>\n
\u201cThis development forms part of France\u2019s ambitious policy aimed at strengthening the regional integration of its overseas territories, with a view to promoting their economic development, resilience and influence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis strategic direction, first set out at the 2023 Interministerial Committee for Overseas Territories (Comit\u00e9 interminist\u00e9riel des outre-mer or \u2018\u2019CIOM\u2019\u2019), was reaffirmed at the 2025 CIOM,\u201d\u00a0 the statement noted.<\/p>\n
In February this year, the French Senate gave the green light to Martinique to seek associate membership with CARICOM<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Senate\u2019s vote on January 28, 2026 opens a new phase for Martinique within Caricom. The challenge now is to transform this institutional framework into tangible projects and useful cooperation for the territory and its stakeholders.<\/p>\n
\u201cMembership is not a symbolic achievement, but the starting point for a regional participation that will be translated into action, in the service of Martinique\u2019s development and integration into the Caribbean,\u201d according to the French-based Rich\u00e8s Karayib, a multimodal and multilingual media platform dedicated to showcasing the culture, heritage and tourism of the Caribbean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GEORGETOWN, Guyana \u2013\u00a0 France on Friday said it will continue to work alongside its overseas communities to support…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6532,6534,6526,370,5,6531,6527,6529,6533,7,6530,6528],"class_list":["post-8056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-barbados","tag-caribbean-diaspora","tag-caribbean-news","tag-cuba","tag-france","tag-grenada","tag-jamaica","tag-miami","tag-monthly-news-magazine","tag-sports","tag-st-kitts","tag-trinidad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}