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Caribbean Free Trade Association

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The Caribbean Free Trade Association ( CARIFTA ) was an English-speaking economic trade organisation. It organised on 1 May 1968, to provide a continued economic linkage between the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean . The agreements establishing it came following the dissolution of the West Indies Federation , which lasted from 1958 to 1962.

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135-591: The origins of CARIFTA lay in a meeting on July 4, 1965, between the Prime Ministers of Barbados and British Guiana ( Errol Barrow and Forbes Burnham respectively) to discuss the possibility of establishing a free trade area between the two territories, which at the time were moving towards independence from the United Kingdom. The discussions revolved around establish a free trade area between only those two countries initially and then extending it to

270-429: A Protocol and extended to all CARIFTA members in 1970) respectively. Overall for CARIFTA members intra-CARIFTA trade went from accounting for around 6% of total domestic exports in 1967 to constituting 9% of domestic exports in 1970 (total domestic imports from intra-CARIFTA trade remained general stable at around 5%), even as the share trade with more traditional markets fluctuated and generally declined: Broken down by

405-512: A book entitled The Discovery of Guiana , but this mainly relates to the Guayana region of Venezuela. The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle there, starting in the early 17th century. They founded the colonies of Essequibo and Berbice , adding Demerara in the mid-18th century. In 1796, Great Britain took over these three colonies during hostilities with the French, who had occupied

540-402: A brewery, a soap factory, a biscuit factory and an oxygen-acetylene plant, among others). The London-based Booker Group of companies (Booker Brothers, McConnell & Co., Ltd) dominated the economy of British Guiana. The Bookers had owned sugar plantations in the colony since the early 19th century; by the end of the century they owned a majority of them. By 1950 they owned all but three. With

675-484: A common street food in winter, when street vendors with carts fitted with ovens sell them to people passing time by the Nile or the sea. The cultivars used are an orange-fleshed one as well as a white/cream-fleshed one. They are also baked at home as a snack or dessert, drenched with honey . In Ethiopia , the commonly found cultivars are black-skinned, cream-fleshed and called bitatis or mitatis . They are cultivated in

810-690: A diplomatic protest, claiming that the New River , and not the Kutari, was to be regarded as the source of the Courantyne and the boundary. The British government in 1900 replied that the issue was already settled by the longstanding acceptance of the Kutari as the boundary. In 1962, the Kingdom of the Netherlands , on behalf of its then- constituent country of Suriname , finally made formal claim to

945-460: A garlic and soy sauce mixture, or simply salted before serving. They, as well as dishes featuring the sweet potato root, are commonly found at bento ( Pe̍h-ōe-jī : piān-tong ) restaurants. In northeastern Chinese cuisine , sweet potatoes are often cut into chunks and fried, before being drenched into a pan of boiling syrup. In some regions of India, sweet potato is roasted slowly over kitchen coals at night and eaten with some dressing, while

1080-515: A horticultural context. Sweet potatoes can also be called yams in North America. When soft varieties were first grown commercially there, there was a need to differentiate between the two. Enslaved Africans had already been calling the 'soft' sweet potatoes 'yams' because they resembled the unrelated yams in Africa. Thus, 'soft' sweet potatoes were referred to as 'yams' to distinguish them from

1215-465: A large iron drum and sold as street food during winter. In Korea, sweet potatoes, known as goguma , are roasted in a drum can, baked in foil or on an open fire, typically during winter. In Japan, a dish similar to the Korean preparation is called yaki-imo (roasted sweet potato), which typically uses either the yellow-fleshed "Japanese sweet potato" or the purple-fleshed "Okinawan sweet potato", which

1350-554: A majority vote consisting of two-thirds of the member territories. Besides administering the CARIFTA Agreement, the council was also empowered to settle disputes arising from the CARIFTA Agreement (whether between member territories for originating from within a member territory) and thus it also acted as tribunal when necessary. In that way it could authorize any member territory to take interim safe-guard measures and suspend its obligations towards another member territory if

1485-684: A member of the Association (and had promised to take the necessary steps to become so) in February 1969 at a Commonwealth Caribbean Heads of Government Conference in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The Caribbean Free Trade Association was created to improve relations between the various Caribbean islands. One of the reasons of the formation of the CARIFTA was to increase the quota and variety of goods able to be sold. Specifically, CARIFTA

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1620-473: A minimum of 500 mm (20 in) in the growing season. The crop is sensitive to drought at the tuber initiation stage 50–60 days after planting, and it is not tolerant to waterlogging, which may cause tuber rots and reduce the growth of storage roots if aeration is poor. Depending on the cultivar and conditions, tuberous roots mature in two to nine months. With care, early-maturing cultivars can be grown as an annual summer crop in temperate areas, such as

1755-565: A new proportional representation system. Britain expected that this system would reduce the number of seats won by the PPP and prevent it from obtaining a majority. The December 1964 elections for the new legislature gave the PPP 45.8% (24 seats), the People's National Congress (PNC) 40.5% (22 seats) and the United Force (UF) 12.4% (7 seats). The UF agreed to form a coalition government with

1890-459: A new border according to the award, and the parties accepted the boundary in 1905. There the matter rested until 1962, when Venezuela renewed its 19th-century claim, alleging that the arbitral award was invalid. After his death, Severo Mallet-Prevost, legal counsel for Venezuela and a named partner in the New York law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle published a letter alleging that

2025-451: A nominated Senate (13 seats). In the ensuing election of 21 August 1961, the PPP won 20 seats in the House of Assembly, entitling it as the majority party to appoint eight senators. Upon the 1961 election, British Guiana also became self-governing , except as to defence and external matters. The leader of the majority party became prime minister, who then named a Council of Ministers, replacing

2160-505: A second complete genome duplication event. The oldest radiocarbon dating remains of the sweet potato known today were discovered in caves from the Chilca Canyon, in the south-central zone of Peru , and yield an age of 8080 ± 170 BC. The genome of cultivated sweet potatoes contains sequences of DNA from Agrobacterium ( sensu lato ; specifically, one related to Rhizobium rhizogenes ), with genes actively expressed by

2295-637: A significant part of the economy (in 1959 sugar still accounted for nearly 50% of exports). Under the Dutch, settlement and economic activity was concentrated around sugarcane plantations lying inland from the coast. Under the British, cane planting expanded to richer coastal lands, with greater coastline protection. Until the abolition of slavery in the British Empire , sugar planters depended almost exclusively on slave labour to produce sugar. Georgetown

2430-592: A staple food for people in northeastern Uganda. Amukeke is mainly served for breakfast, eaten with peanut sauce. Inginyo is mixed with cassava flour and tamarind to make atapa . People eat atapa with smoked fish cooked in peanut sauce or with dried cowpea leaves cooked in peanut sauce. Emukaru (earth-baked root) is eaten as a snack anytime and is mostly served with tea or with peanut sauce. Similar uses are also found in South Sudan . The young leaves and vine tips of sweet potato leaves are widely consumed as

2565-512: A three-fold increase with imports increasing from EC$ 1.862 billion in 1966 to EC$ 7.141 billion in 1974 (a 284% increase) and exports increasing from EC$ 1.4 billion to EC$ 6.3 billion (a 350% increase) over the same period. This indicates that CARIFTA was successful in creating trade rather than merely diverting trade with the Free Trade Area. On November 26, 1969 the central banks of Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago jointly announced

2700-459: A variety of soils, but well-drained, light- and medium-textured soils with a pH range of 4.5–7.0 are more favorable for the plant. They can be grown in poor soils with little fertilizer. However, sweet potatoes are very sensitive to aluminium toxicity and will die about six weeks after planting if lime is not applied at planting in this type of soil. As they are sown by vine cuttings rather than seeds, sweet potatoes are relatively easy to plant. As

2835-481: A vegetable in West African countries (Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia , for example), as well as in northeastern Uganda, East Africa. According to FAO leaflet No. 13 – 1990, sweet potato leaves and shoots are a good source of vitamins A, C, and B 2 (riboflavin), and according to research done by A. Khachatryan, are an excellent source of lutein . In Kenya , Rhoda Nungo of the home economics department of

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2970-518: Is 76% water, 21% carbohydrates , 2% protein , and contains negligible fat (table). In a 100 gram reference amount, baked sweet potato provides 90 calories , and rich contents (20% or more of the Daily Value , DV) of vitamin A (120% DV), vitamin C (24% DV), manganese (24% DV), and vitamin B6 (20% DV). It is a moderate source (10–19% DV) of some B vitamins and potassium . Between 50% and 90% of

3105-447: Is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae . Its large, starchy , sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable . The young shoots and leaves are sometimes eaten as greens . Cultivars of the sweet potato have been bred to bear tubers with flesh and skin of various colors. Sweet potato is only distantly related to the common potato ( Solanum tuberosum ), both being in

3240-473: Is known as beni-imo . Sweet potato soup , served during winter, consists of boiling sweet potato in water with rock sugar and ginger. In Fujian cuisine and Taiwanese cuisine , sweet potato is often cooked with rice to make congee. Steamed and dried sweet potato is a delicacy from Liancheng County . Sweet potato greens are a common side dish in Taiwanese cuisine, often boiled or sautéed and served with

3375-652: Is long and tapered, with a smooth skin whose color ranges between yellow, orange, red, brown, purple, and beige. Its flesh ranges from beige through white, red, pink, violet, yellow, orange, and purple. Sweet potato cultivars with white or pale yellow flesh are less sweet and moist than those with red, pink or orange flesh. The sweet potato originates in South America in what is present-day Ecuador . The domestication of sweet potato occurred in either Central or South America. In Central America, domesticated sweet potatoes were present at least 5,000 years ago, with

3510-593: Is sufficient water to support their growth. Sweet potatoes became common as a food crop in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, South India, Uganda and other African countries. A cultivar of the sweet potato called the boniato is grown in the Caribbean ; its flesh is cream-colored, unlike the more common orange hue seen in other cultivars. Boniatos are not as sweet and moist as other sweet potatoes, but their consistency and delicate flavor are different from

3645-440: Is the only crop plant of major importance—some others are used locally (e.g., I. aquatica "kangkong" as a green vegetable), but many are poisonous. The genus Ipomoea that contains the sweet potato also includes several garden flowers called morning glories , but that term is not usually extended to I. batatas . Some cultivars of I. batatas are grown as ornamental plants under the name tuberous morning glory, and used in

3780-564: The Berbice Association . The Dutch West India Company founded a third colony, Demerara , in the mid-18th century. During the French Revolutionary Wars of the late 18th century, when the Netherlands were occupied by the French, and Great Britain and France were at war, Britain took over the colony in 1796. A British expeditionary force was dispatched from its colony of Barbados to seize the colonies from

3915-649: The British Government abolished the Dutch-influenced constitution and replaced it with a Crown colony constitution. A Legislative Council with an appointed majority was established, and the administrative powers of the Governor were strengthened. These constitutional changes were not popular among the Guyanese, who viewed them as a step backward. The franchise was extended to women . In 1938

4050-528: The CARIFTA Games . In 1985, a similar set of games, The CARIFTA Aquatics Championships, started. British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies . It was located on the northern coast of South America . Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana . The first known Europeans to encounter Guiana were Sir Walter Raleigh , an English explorer, and his crew. Raleigh published

4185-1015: The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) following a decision, at the Seventh Heads of Government Conference in October 1972, to transform CARIFTA into a Common Market and establish the Caribbean Community of which the Common Market would be an integral part. At the Eighth Heads of Government Conference in April 1973, the Georgetown Accord was adopted, which set out the details of how CARIFTA was to be replaced by CARICOM. The Treaty of Chaguaramas declared that CARIFTA would cease to exist on 1 May 1974 when

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4320-831: The Columbian exchange . It is recorded, for example, in Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book , compiled in England in 1604. Sweet potatoes were first introduced to the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period (1521–1898) via the Manila galleons , along with other New World crops . It was introduced to the Fujian of China in about 1594 from Luzon , in response to a major crop failure. The growing of sweet potatoes

4455-549: The Dickenson Bay Agreement, was May 15, 1967. However, as a result of shuttle diplomacy engaged by Dr. Eric Williams , Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, (through one of his ministers, Kamaluddin Mohammed ) this was postponed as in order to allow Trinidad and Tobago to be included in the agreement and to generally make the agreement region-wide from the beginning. Dr. Williams had for years been advocating

4590-808: The Minister-President of the Netherlands Antilles, Ciro Domenico Kroon and the Prime Minister of Suriname, Johan Adolf Pengel both expressed an interest in their respective territories joining CARIFTA in the future. In January 1970, at the fifth meeting of the CARIFTA Council, Trinidad and Tobago proposed that the Bahamas, Haiti and the Dominican Republic be admitted as members of CARIFTA. This proposal

4725-546: The Ministry of Agriculture has written a guide to using sweet potatoes in modern recipes. This includes uses both in the mashed form and as flour from the dried tubers to replace part of the wheat flour and sugar in baked products such as cakes, chapatis, mandazis, bread, buns and cookies. A nutritious juice drink is made from the orange-fleshed cultivars, and deep-fried snacks are also included. In Egypt , sweet potato tubers are known as batata ( بطاطا ‎ ) and are

4860-605: The Māori varieties bore elongated tubers with white skin and a whitish flesh, which points to pre-European cross-Pacific travel. Known as kumara (from the Māori language kūmara ), the most common cultivar now is the red 'Owairaka', but orange ('Beauregard'), gold, purple and other cultivars are also grown. The plant does not tolerate frost . It grows best at an average temperature of 24 °C (75 °F), with abundant sunshine and warm nights. Annual rainfalls of 750–1,000 mm (30–39 in) are considered most suitable, with

4995-610: The Netherlands . Britain returned control of the territory to the Batavian Republic in 1802, but captured the colonies a year later during the Napoleonic Wars . The Netherlands officially ceded the colonies to the United Kingdom in 1815. The British consolidated the territories into a single colony in 1831. The colony's capital was at Georgetown (known as Stabroek prior to 1812). Since the late 19th century,

5130-577: The Tokugawa bakufu sponsored, published, and disseminated a vernacular Japanese translation of his research monograph on sweet potatoes to encourage their growth more broadly. Sweet potatoes were planted in Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshimune 's private garden. It was first introduced to Korea in 1764. Kang P'il-ri and Yi Kwang-ryŏ embarked on a project to grow sweet potatoes in Seoul in 1766, using

5265-726: The United States Navy established NAF British Guiana and NAF Paramaribo in British Guiana. The economy was based on cultivation and processing of sugarcane as a commodity crop, dependent on extensive labor by enslaved workers of mostly sub-Saharan African descent. Although the UK and the United States abolished the Atlantic slave trade in 1807, the domestic slave trade flourished until Britain emancipated all

5400-657: The West India Royal Commission ("The Moyne Commission") was appointed to investigate the economic and social condition of all the British colonies in the Caribbean region after a number of civil and labour disturbances . Among other changes, the Commission recommended some constitutional reforms. As a result, in 1943 a majority of the Legislative Council seats became elective, the property qualifications for voters and for candidates for

5535-772: The Zenú , a people inhabiting the Pacific coast of present-day Colombia , indicating that Polynesians could have visited South America and taken sweet potatoes prior to European contact. Dutch linguists and specialists in Amerindian languages Willem Adelaar and Pieter Muysken have suggested that the word for sweet potato is shared by Polynesian languages and languages of South America: Proto-Polynesian * kumala (compare Rapa Nui kumara , Hawaiian ʻuala , Māori kūmara ) may be connected with Quechua and Aymara k'umar ~ k'umara . Adelaar and Muysken assert that

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5670-441: The day is short . The small sepals are elongated and tapering to a point and spiky and (rarely only 7) 10 to 15 millimetres ( 3 ⁄ 8 to 5 ⁄ 8  in) long, usually finely haired or ciliate . The inner three are a little longer. The 4 to 7 cm ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 to 2 + 3 ⁄ 4  in) long, overgrown and funnel-shaped, folded crown, with a shorter hem, can be lavender to purple-lavender in color,

5805-464: The monocot family Dioscoreaceae . A different crop plant, the oca ( Oxalis tuberosa , a species of wood sorrel), is called a "yam" in many parts of the world. Although the sweet potato is not closely related botanically to the common potato, they have a shared etymology. The first Europeans to taste sweet potatoes were members of Christopher Columbus 's expedition in 1492. Later explorers found many cultivars under an assortment of local names, but

5940-623: The " New River Triangle ", the triangular-shaped region between the New and Kutari rivers that was in dispute. The then Surinamese colonial government and, after 1975, the independent Surinamese government, maintained the Dutch position, while the British Guiana Government, and later the independent Guyanese government, maintained the British position. British Guiana is famous among philatelists for its early postage stamps, which were first issued in 1850. These stamps include some of

6075-444: The 'firm' varieties. The plant is a herbaceous perennial vine , bearing alternate triangle-shaped or palmately lobed leaves and medium-sized sympetalous flowers . The stems are usually crawling on the ground and form adventitious roots at the nodes . The leaves are screwed along the stems. The leaf stalk is 13 to 51 centimetres (5 to 20 inches) long. The leaf blades are very variable, 5 to 13 cm (2 to 5 in) long,

6210-617: The 1960 European Free Trade Association Agreement, and the subsequent 1967 Agreement was suitably modified to reflect membership encompassing most of the Commonwealth Caribbean, the Association itself was governed more like the European Economic Community (EEC) with a mix of formal institutions set up by the Agreement and informal institutions outside the scope of the Agreement although like EFTA,

6345-467: The 1972 Conference of Commonwealth Caribbean Heads of Government, consideration was given to widening CARIFTA but the immediate priority was agreed to be to improve the position of the less developed territories in the Association and to study the possibilities of including all the Caribbean islands and Suriname in the integration movement. While the original 1965 CARIFTA Agreement was mostly modelled on

6480-684: The Americas, sweet potato was grown in Polynesia , generally spread by vine cuttings rather than by seeds. Sweet potato has been radiocarbon-dated in the Cook Islands to 1210–1400 CE. A common hypothesis is that a vine cutting was brought to central Polynesia by Polynesians who had traveled to South America and back, and spread from there across Polynesia to Easter Island, Hawaii and New Zealand. Genetic similarities have been found between Polynesian peoples and indigenous Americans including

6615-543: The Caribbean Community, with the 1972 Conference (at which it was agreed to form the Caribbean Community) appointing a Committee of Attorneys-General of all CARIFTA member states and the Bahamas to review the legal implications of establishing the Community itself and to prepare a draft Treaty for creating the Community. The 1972 Conference also agreed to deepen fiscal, financial and monetary cooperation within

6750-579: The Caribbean Community. While initially envisaged as being potential members of a Caribbean Economic Community by Trinidad & Tobago's Prime Minister, Dr. Eric Williams, when he first enunciated such a vision in January 1962, the talks between Trinidad & Tobago and Surinam (as it was then called until 1978 when it officially changed its name to Suriname) and the Netherlands Antilles in March 1962 were not successful. These two Dutch Caribbean territories (at

6885-655: The Commonwealth Caribbean and to that end established a Standing Committee of Ministers of Finance of CARIFTA member states and The Bahamas as a permanent institution for regional economic cooperation. In April 1973, at the final meeting of the Commonwealth Caribbean Heads of Government before the establishment of the Caribbean Community, the Conference welcomed the upcoming independence of The Bahamas in July 1973 and looked forward to its participation in

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7020-435: The Council were lowered, and the bar on women and clergy serving on the Council was abolished. The Governor retained control of the Executive Council, which had the power to veto or pass laws against the wishes of the Legislative Council. The next round of constitutional reforms came in 1953. A bicameral legislature , consisting of a lower House of Assembly and an upper State Council, was established. The voting membership of

7155-425: The Dickenson Bay Agreement so as to ensure the broadest possible membership, set 1 May 1968 as day CARIFTA was supposed to become operation and set forth a Resolution on Regional Integration which was incorporated as an integral part of the CARIFTA Agreement as Annex A. In regards to the CARIFTA and the wider regional integration movement, the Heads of Government Conference was the ultimate body which gave direction to

7290-421: The Dominican Republic (and Cuba) in CARIFTA unless a quota system was applied to their products as he considered their economies to be duplicate to those of the existing CARFITA states. The Dominican Republic first signaled its intention to join a regional economic bloc at the a Summit of American leaders in Uruguay in April 1967 when it signed the Declaration of the Presidents of America. This Declaration outlined

7425-443: The EEC however, the regional Heads of Government Conference pre-dates CARIFTA (and then CARICOM), having first convened in 1963 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. Having expanded its membership from just the independent Commonwealth Caribbean states in 1963 to including all of the non-independent territories in 1967, it was the Heads of Government Conference at its fourth sitting in October 1967 in Bridgetown, Barbados that modified

7560-466: The Eastern United States and China. Sweet potatoes rarely flower when the daylight is longer than 11 hours, as is normal outside of the tropics. They are mostly propagated by stem or root cuttings or by adventitious shoots called "slips" that grow out from the tuberous roots during storage. True seeds are used for breeding only. They grow well in many farming conditions and have few natural enemies; pesticides are rarely needed. Sweet potatoes are grown on

7695-411: The French-dominated Batavian Republic . The colonies surrendered without a struggle. Initially very little changed, as the British agreed to allow the long-established laws of the colonies to remain in force. In 1802 Britain returned the colonies to the Batavian Republic under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens . But, after resuming hostilities with France in the Napoleonic Wars in 1803, Britain seized

7830-424: The Grenadines benefitted from increase exports to the More Developed Countries (MDCs - Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago) of ground provisions (like sweet potatoes ), copra and raw oils (such as coconut oil) under the Agricultural Marketing Protocol and the Oil and Fats Agreement (which was initially an Agreement among some regional states that pre-dated CARIFTA but was incorporated into CARIFTA as

7965-524: The Grenadines, and Montserrat were intended to join the scheme on January 19, 1970. However, all of these states except Barbados did not actually join the scheme until February 1970 and Barbados itself joined in May 1972. Belize (having been renamed from British Honduras in 1973) joined in February 1976. This Inter-Regional Settlements Agreement expanded upon pre-existing arrangements between CARIFTA states for dealing with their regional currencies (exchanging their various currency notes and coins) by allowing for

8100-415: The House of Assembly was entirely elective. The membership of the State Council was appointed by the Governor and the House of Assembly and possessed limited revisionary powers. A Court of Policy became the executive body, consisting of the Governor and other colonial officials. Universal adult suffrage was instituted, and the property qualifications for office abolished. The election of 27 April 1953 under

8235-743: The MDC and LDC designations, the MDC territories experienced 77% growth of intra-CARIFTA exports over four years (with Jamaica's export trade expanding the most, growing by 46% in exports and 24% in imports for the period 1967–1969) and the LDC territories saw 35% growth in intra-CARIFTA exports over the same period. By the time CARIFTA was officially wound up in mid-1974 both intra-CARIFTA imports and exports had risen more than four-fold compared to 1966, with intra-CARIFTA imports increasing from EC$ 89 million to EC$ 473 million (433% increase) and intra-CARIFTA exports increasing from EC$ 82 million in 1966 to EC$ 455 million in 1974 (a 457% increase). The equivalent statistics for total trade with all partners by contrast showed

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8370-401: The Original Treaty of Chaguaramas of July 1973. The CARIFTA Council is analogous to the EFTA Council of Ministers, and was set up under Article 28 of the CARIFTA Agreement with each member territory being represented on the council and having one vote. Council decisions and recommendations were made by unanimous vote, except where the Agreement provides otherwise, in which case it could act by

8505-431: The PNC, and accordingly, the PNC leader became the new prime minister. In November 1965 an independence conference in London quickly reached agreement on an independent constitution; it set the date for independence as 26 May 1966. On that date, at 12 midnight, British Guiana became the new nation of Guyana . In 1840, the British Government assigned the German-born explorer Robert Hermann Schomburgk to survey and mark out

8640-459: The Polynesian name kumara and its regional Oceanic cognates ( kumala , umala , ʻuala , etc. ), which has led some scholars to suspect an instance of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact . This theory is also supported by genetic evidence. In Australia, about 90% of production is devoted to the orange cultivar 'Beauregard', which was originally developed by the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station in 1981. In New Zealand,

8775-423: The Secretariat was to service both the Heads of Government Conference and the council, ensuring implementation of resolutions and decisions and to make studies concerning trade expansion or as assigned to it by the Conference or the council and make recommendations on matters within its competence. The Secretariat itself was divided into two Divisions. The first was the Trade and Integration Division which supervised

8910-433: The United States' Monroe Doctrine to win support for its position. US President Grover Cleveland used diplomatic pressure to get the British to agree to arbitration of the issue, ultimately agreeing terms for the arbitration that suited Britain. An arbitration tribunal convened in Paris in 1898, and issued its award in 1899. The tribunal awarded about 94% of the disputed territory to British Guiana. A commission surveyed

9045-443: The aim for the creation of Latin American Common Market through the vehicles of the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) and Central American Common Market (CACM). Subsequently, the Dominican Republic looked into both LAFTA and the CACM, before pursuing discussions on joining CARIFTA in 1970. However the discussions did not result in Dominican membership before CARIFTA was ended in favour of forming CARICOM in 1973–1974. At

9180-448: The colonies again less than a year later. The Netherlands officially ceded the three colonies to the United Kingdom in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 . The UK continued separate administration of the individual colonies until 1822, when the administration of Essequibo and Demerara was combined. In 1831, the administration Essequibo-Demerara and Berbice was combined, and the united colony became known as British Guiana. During World War II

9315-438: The colonies involved three phases: desertion from the plantations; movement settlements and later to urban areas; and intra-regional migration from one Caribbean island to another. The traditional rigid Indian caste system largely collapsed in the colonies. Guianese served in all British forces during the Second World War, and enjoyed veterans' benefits afterwards. The colony made a small but important financial contribution to

9450-602: The common orange-colored sweet potato. Sweet potatoes have been a part of the diet in the U.S. for most of its history, especially in the Southeast. The average per capita consumption of sweet potatoes in the United States is only about 1.5–2 kg (3.3–4.4 lb) per year, down from 13 kg (29 lb) in 1920. "Orange sweet potatoes (the most common type encountered in the US) received higher appearance liking scores compared with yellow or purple cultivars." Purple and yellow sweet potatoes were not as well liked by consumers compared to orange sweet potatoes "possibly because of

9585-544: The constitution, declared a state of emergency , and militarily occupied British Guiana on 9 October 1953. Under the direction of the British Colonial Office , the Governor assumed direct rule of the colony under an Interim Government, which continued until 1957. On 12 August 1957, elections were held and the PPP won nine of fourteen elective seats in a new legislature. A constitutional convention convened in London in March 1960 reached agreement on another new legislature, to consist of an elected House of Assembly (35 seats) and

9720-678: The dispute remains unresolved. Robert Schomburgk's 1840 commission also included a survey of the colony's eastern boundary with the Dutch colony of Surinam , now the independent nation of Suriname . The 1899 arbitration award settling the British Guiana–Venezuela border made reference to the border with Suriname as continuing to the source of the Courantyne River , which it named as the Kutari River . The Netherlands raised

9855-512: The easier way in the south is simply boiling or pressure cooking before peeling, cubing and seasoning for a vegetable dish as part of the meal. In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, it is known as sakkara valli kilangu . It is boiled and consumed as evening snack. In some parts of India, fresh sweet potato is chipped, dried and then ground into flour; this is then mixed with wheat flour and baked into chapatti (bread). Between 15 and 20 percent of

9990-548: The eastern and southern lower highlands and harvested during the rainy season (June/July). In recent years, better yielding orange-fleshed cultivars were released for cultivation by Haramaya University as a less sugary sweet potato with higher vitamin A content. Sweet potatoes are widely eaten boiled as a favored snack. In South Africa, sweet potatoes are often eaten as a side dish such as soetpatats . In East Asia, roasted sweet potatoes are popular street food . In China, sweet potatoes, typically yellow cultivars, are baked in

10125-527: The economy has become more diversified but has still relied on resource exploitation . Guyana became independent of the United Kingdom on 26 May 1966. The English made at least two unsuccessful attempts in the 17th century to colonise the lands that would later be known as British Guiana. By that time, the Dutch had established two colonies in the area: Essequibo , administered by the Dutch West India Company , and Berbice , administered by

10260-596: The elective membership of the Courts. Membership of the Court of Policy became half elected and half appointed, and all of the Financial Representatives became elective positions. The executive functions of the Court of Policy were transferred to a new Executive Council under the control of the Governor. Property qualifications were significantly relaxed for voters and for candidates to the Courts. In 1928

10395-523: The enslaved in its colonies in the 1830s. The wealth they generated had largely flowed to a group of absentee slave owners living in Britain, especially in Glasgow and Liverpool . The economy of British Guiana was completely based on sugarcane production until the 1880s, when falling cane sugar prices stimulated a shift toward rice farming, mining and forestry. But the production of sugarcane remained

10530-556: The establishment of a Caribbean Economic Community and was now fearful that Barbados, Antigua and Guyana were planning to form a free trade area between themselves to the exclusion of Trinidad and Tobago. The push to make the free trade area a region-initiative was successful and the issue was discussed at the fourth Conference of the Heads of Government of Commonwealth Caribbean Countries in Bridgetown, Barbados in October 1967. There it

10665-669: The familiarity of orange color that is associated with sweet potatoes." In the Southeastern U.S., sweet potatoes are traditionally cured to improve storage , flavor, and nutrition, and to allow wounds on the periderm of the harvested root to heal. Proper curing requires drying the freshly dug roots on the ground for two to three hours, then storage at 29–32 °C (85–90 °F) with 90 to 95% relative humidity from five to fourteen days. Cured sweet potatoes can keep for thirteen months when stored at 13–15 °C (55–59 °F) with >90% relative humidity. Colder temperatures injure

10800-567: The formal institutions prescribed in the CARIFTA Agreement were simple and flexible. Similarly to the European Council the regional Heads of Government Conference started off as an informal summit of leaders and later as an independent, formal summit of leaders that was still informal with regards to the regional integration organization over which it had some amount of direction. Unlike the European Council with regards to

10935-569: The former Executive Council. From 1962 to 1964, riots, strikes and other disturbances stemming from racial, social and economic conflicts delayed full independence for British Guiana. The leaders of the political parties reported to the British Colonial Secretary that they were unable to reach agreement on the remaining details of forming an independent government. The British Colonial Office intervened by imposing its own independence plan, in part requiring another election under

11070-617: The increasing success and wealth of the Booker Group, they expanded internationally and diversified by investing in rum, pharmaceuticals, publishing, advertising, retail stores, timber, and petroleum, among other industries. The Booker Group became the largest employer in the colony, leading some to refer to it as "Booker's Guiana". Indentured workers were recruited from India from 1850 to 1920, and were largely locked in place. A minority achieved mobility. Some secretly fled; others waited until their contracts expired. Indian migration within

11205-405: The individual credit lines were increased to £500,000 (or approximately US$ 1.160 million) and in 1976, total credit in the arrangements was increased to US$ 40 million. The Settlements Agreement facilitated the flow of regional trade, conserved the region's international reserves, and encouraged the integration of the regional banking systems. The settlement on a quarterly basis significantly reduced

11340-421: The inland mines still operate narrow-gauge lines. The British long continued the forms of Dutch colonial government in British Guiana. A Court of Policy exercised both legislative and executive functions under the direction of the colonial Governor (which existed from 1831 to 1966). A group known as the Financial Representatives sat with the Court of Policy in a Combined Court to set tax policies. A majority of

11475-516: The institution of an Inter-Regional Settlements Agreement (also known as the Intra-Regional Payments Scheme) aimed at facilitating and reducing the cost of making payments from trade among CARIFTA states. The Agreement became operational on December 1, 1969 between those three countries; while the remaining CARIFTA states of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and

11610-409: The judges on the tribunal acted improperly as a result of a back-room deal between Russia and Great Britain. The British Government rejected this claim, asserting the validity of the 1899 award. The British Guiana Government, then under the leadership of the PPP, also strongly rejected this claim. Efforts by all parties to resolve the matter on the eve of Guyana's independence in 1966 failed; as of today,

11745-460: The knowledge of Japanese cultivators they learned in Tongnae starting in 1764. The project succeeded for a year but ultimately failed in winter 1767 after Kang's unexpected death. Although the soft, orange sweet potato is often called a " yam " in parts of North America, the sweet potato is very distinct from the botanical yam ( Dioscorea ), which has a cosmopolitan distribution, and belongs to

11880-485: The lack of a /p/ sound in Arabic, while the sweet potato was called batata ḥilwa ( بطاطا حلوة ‎ ); literally ('sweet potato'). The Arabic batata was loaned into Hebrew as designating the sweet potato only, as Hebrew had its own word for the common potato, תפוח אדמה ‎ ( tapuakh adama , literally 'earth apple'; compare French pomme de terre ). Some organizations and researchers advocate for

12015-487: The members of the Courts was appointed by the Governor; the rest were selected by a College of Kiezers (Electors). The Kiezers were elected, with the restrictive franchise based on property holdings and limited to the larger landowners of the colony. The Courts were dominated in the early centuries by the sugar planters and their representatives. In 1891 the College of Kiezers was abolished in favour of direct election of

12150-452: The most common cooking methods. Also, the use in vegetable tempura is common. Daigaku-imo ( ja:大学芋 ) is a baked and caramel-syruped sweet potato dessert. As it is sweet and starchy, it is used in imo-kinton and some other traditional sweets , such as ofukuimo . What is commonly called "sweet potato" ( ja:スイートポテト ) in Japan is a cake made by baking mashed sweet potatoes. Shōchū ,

12285-639: The name which stayed was the indigenous Taíno name of batata . The Spanish combined this with the Quechua word for potato, papa , to create the word patata for the common potato. Though the sweet potato is also called batata ( בטטה ‎ ) in Hebrew , this is not a direct loan of the Taíno word. Rather, the Spanish patata was loaned into Arabic as batata ( بطاطا ‎ ), owing to

12420-477: The new system provoked a serious constitutional crisis. The People's Progressive Party (PPP) won 18 of the 24 seats in the House of Assembly. This result alarmed the British Government, which was surprised by the strong showing of the PPP. It considered the PPP as too friendly with communist organisations. As a result of its fears of communist influence in the colony, the British Government suspended

12555-534: The only net creditor within the Scheme. In 1965, on December 15, the CARIFTA was founded by 3 countries: The following countries joined the agreement: In the 1970s, around the time CARIFTA was being transformed into CARICOM the following countries were granted Liaison Status/Observer Status in the Association: Although never a member of the Association itself, The Bahamas had begun involvement in

12690-418: The order Solanales . Although darker sweet potatoes are often referred to as "yams" in parts of North America, the species is even more distant from the true yams , which are monocots in the order Dioscoreales . The sweet potato is native to the tropical regions of South America in what is present-day Ecuador . Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of Convolvulaceae, I. batatas

12825-604: The origin of I. batatas possibly between the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico and the mouth of the Orinoco River in Venezuela . The cultigen was most likely spread by local people to the Caribbean and South America by 2500 BCE. I. trifida , a diploid , is the closest wild relative of the sweet potato, which originated with an initial cross between a tetraploid and another diploid parent, followed by

12960-494: The participation of Antigua, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. The original idea to permit all territories in the region to participate in the Association was achieved a few months later with the entry of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent in July and of Jamaica and Montserrat on August 1, 1968. British Honduras (Belize) became a member in May 1971 following its government's agreement to become

13095-420: The plants. The T-DNA transgenes were not observed in closely related wild relatives of the sweet potato. Studies indicated that the sweet potato genome evolved over millennia , with eventual domestication of the crop taking advantage of natural genetic modifications. These observations make sweet potatoes the first known example of a naturally transgenic food crop. Before the arrival of Europeans to

13230-592: The previously erratic changes in foreign exchange reserves of the participating member states caused by having to settle at least once a day in both directions prior to the scheme (to pay for imports and receive funds from exports). The Inter-Regional Settlements Agreement would continue past CARIFTA's transformation into CARICOM and eventually be replaced in April 1977 by the CARICOM Multilateral Clearing Facility and its concomitant traveller's cheques facility . This transformation

13365-400: The purchasing and selling of regional currencies via bank transfers. This would enable the regional monetary authorities to facilitate regional commercial banks in concluding final settlements between themselves locally rather than having such payments done through London as was the practice up to that time. In turn this allowed commercial banks to offer better rates of exchange and settlement in

13500-520: The rapidly growing vines shade out weeds, little weeding is needed. A commonly used herbicide to rid the soil of any unwelcome plants that may interfere with growth is DCPA , also known as Dacthal. In the tropics, the crop can be maintained in the ground and harvested as needed for market or home consumption. In temperate regions, sweet potatoes are most often grown on larger farms and are harvested before first frosts. Sweet potatoes are cultivated throughout tropical and warm temperate regions wherever there

13635-402: The rarest, most expensive stamps in the world, such as the unique British Guiana 1c magenta from 1856, which was sold in 2014 for US$ 9.5 million. [REDACTED] British Guiana travel guide from Wikivoyage 5°0′0″N 58°45′0″W  /  5.00000°N 58.75000°W  / 5.00000; -58.75000 Sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato ( Ipomoea batatas )

13770-429: The regional cooperation and integration initiative through participation in the Heads of Government Conferences of the Commonwealth Caribbean starting in 1966. This participation was quite active with The Bahamas' Premier, Lynden Pindling, sharing experiences and offering suggestions with regards to the establishment and operation of a regional air carrier at the 1969 Conference, and with The Bahamas (along with Belize which

13905-755: The regional currencies to their customers. The new arrangement also allowed for the desired increase in international liquidity for the CARIFTA states be formally making CARIFTA currencies convertible within the CARIFTA Area. This was considered a necessity as the volume of intra-CARIFTA trade increased. However, under the Scheme the various CARIFTA central banks or monetary authorities effected settlements with each other individually, with each member extended an interest-free maximum credit line of £100,000 and outstanding net balances being settled quarterly by actual currency exchange (in Pounds Sterling). In 1974

14040-534: The regional integration, established committees and working parties to examine certain issues pertaining to regional integration, approved the budget of the Commonwealth Caribbean Regional Secretariat, and informally was needed to expressly approve any new major initiatives of the formal CARIFTA institutions. The Heads of Government Conference would be formalized as an Organ of CARIFTA's successor organization, CARICOM, with

14175-967: The relative performance of sweet potato (in column) to other staple foods on a dry weight basis to account for their different water contents. While sweet potato provides less edible energy and protein per unit weight than cereals, it has higher nutrient density than cereals. According to a study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization , sweet potatoes are the most efficient staple food to grow in terms of farmland, yielding approximately 70,000 kcal per hectare (28,000/acre) / day. raw yellow dent corn raw unenriched long-grain white rice raw hard red winter wheat raw potato with flesh and skin raw cassava raw green soybeans raw sweet potato raw sorghum raw yam raw plantains unofficial The starchy tuberous roots of

14310-574: The remaining CARIFTA members all acceded to CARICOM. In fact, there was essentially a transitional period between 1 August 1973 when the More Developed Countries (MDCs) of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago acceded to CARICOM and 26 July 1974 when Saint Kitts & Nevis acceded to CARICOM, during which both CARIFTA and CARICOM were legally in existence and operative and thus CARIFTA wasn't fully superseded until 26 July 1974. In conjunction with their accession to CARICOM,

14445-640: The rest of the Caribbean when the other countries in the Commonwealth Caribbean were ready to join. These bilateral discussions between Barrow and Burnham were later expanded to include V. C. Bird of Antigua and the three leaders ultimately signed the initial CARIFTA Agreement (the Agreement of Dickenson Bay in Antigua) on December 15, 1965. The original date envisioned for the Caribbean Free Trade Area to come into existence, according to

14580-583: The roots. In 2020, global production of sweet potatoes was 89 million tonnes , led by China with 55% of the world total (table). Secondary producers were Malawi , Tanzania , and Nigeria . Sweet potato suffers from Sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (a Crinivirus ). In synergy with other any of a large number of other viruses, Untiveros et al., 2007 finds SPCSV produces an even more severe symptomology . I. batatas suffers from several Phytophthora s including P. carotovorum , P. odoriferum , and P. wasabiae . Cooked sweet potato (baked in skin)

14715-528: The second member territory was determined by the Council not to be fulfilling its obligations stemming from the CARIFTA Agreement. The Commonwealth Caribbean Regional Secretariat was the principal administrative organ of the Association, being established under Article 28 (3) of the Agreement, and it could be entrusted by the council with such functions or delegated authority as the Council considered necessary to assist it in accomplishing its tasks. The role of

14850-399: The shape is heart-, kidney- to egg-shaped, rounded or triangular and spear-shaped, the edge can be entire, toothed or often three to seven times lobed, cut or divided. Most of the leaf surfaces are bare, rarely hairy, and the tip is rounded to pointed. The leaves are mostly green in color, but the accumulation of anthocyanins , especially along the leaf veins, can make them purple. Depending on

14985-418: The significance of intra-CARIFTA trade relative to external markets all increased notably. Intra-CARIFTA imports rose from EC$ 95 million in 1968 to EC$ 300 million in 1973. Whilst foodstuff and petroleum products accounted for the bulk of this trade, a range of new manufactured items (particularly from Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago) began to be supplied for the first time. Diversification not only occurred in

15120-613: The similarity in the word for sweet potato is proof of either incidental contact or sporadic contact between the Central Andes and Polynesia. Some researchers, citing divergence time estimates, suggest that sweet potatoes might have been present in Polynesia thousands of years before humans arrived there. However, the present scholarly consensus favours the pre-Columbian contact model. The sweet potato arrived in Europe with

15255-546: The styling of the name as one word— sweetpotato —instead of two, to emphasize the plant's genetic uniqueness from both common potatoes and yams and to avoid confusion of it being classified as a type of common potato. In its current usage in American English , the styling of the name as two words is still preferred. In Argentina , Colombia , Venezuela , Puerto Rico , and the Dominican Republic ,

15390-532: The sugar content is sucrose . Maltose content is very low, but baking can increase the maltose content from between 10% and 20%. Sweet potato cultivars with dark orange flesh have more beta-carotene (converted to a higher vitamin A content once digested) than those with light-colored flesh, and their increased cultivation is being encouraged in Africa where vitamin A deficiency is a serious health problem. Sweet potato leaves are edible and can be prepared like spinach or turnip greens. The table below presents

15525-530: The sugar industry and others were built to serve the later bauxite and other mines. In 1948, when the railway in Bermuda was closed down, the locomotives, rolling stock, track, sleepers and virtually all the associated paraphernalia of a railway were shipped to British Guiana to renovate the aged system. The lines ceased to operate in 1972. The large Central Station is still standing in Georgetown. Some of

15660-658: The sweet potato are by far the most important product of the plant. In some tropical areas, the tubers are a staple food crop . The tuber is often cooked before consumption as this increases its nutrition and digestibility, although the American colonists in the Southeast ate raw sweet potatoes as a staple food. The vines' tips and young leaves are edible as a green vegetable with a characteristic flavor. Older growths may be used as animal fodder . Amukeke (sun-dried slices of root) and inginyo (sun-dried crushed root) are

15795-529: The sweet potato harvest is converted by some Indian communities into pickles and snack chips. A part of the tuber harvest is used in India as cattle fodder. In Pakistan , sweet potato is known as shakarqandi and is cooked as a vegetable dish and also with meat dishes ( chicken , mutton or beef). The ash-roasted sweet potatoes are sold as a snack and street food in Pakistani bazaars especially during

15930-716: The sweet potato is called batata . In Brazil, the sweet potato is called batata doce . In Mexico, Bolivia , Peru , Chile, Central America, and the Philippines , the sweet potato is known as camote (alternatively spelled kamote in the Philippines), derived from the Nahuatl word camotli . In Peru and Bolivia , the general word in Quechua for the sweet potato is apichu , but there are variants used such as khumara , kumar ( Ayacucho Quechua ), and kumara (Bolivian Quechua), strikingly similar to

16065-410: The throat is usually darker in color, but white crowns can also appear. The enclosed stamens are of unequal length with glandular filaments. The two-chamber ovary is upper constant with a relatively short stylus. Seeds are only produced from cross-pollination. The flowers open before sunrise and stay open for a few hours. They close again in the morning and begin to wither. The edible tuberous root

16200-532: The time) were however also invited, prior to 1968, to become founding members of CARIFTA, but Surinam declined as it was uncertain as to the implications of joining and the Netherlands Antilles also declined out of caution against being the only non- Commonwealth member Following CARIFTA's foundation however, Jamaica's Prime Minister, Hugh Shearer found on a tour of the Dutch Caribbean in August 1968, that

16335-583: The types of goods sold but in the matrix of trade relationships with Jamaica's trade expanding away from the traditional markets of Belize and the northern Caribbean towards the southern and eastern Caribbean while Trinidad & Tobago's trade concurrently expanded from the traditional markets of Guyana and the Eastern Caribbean towards Jamaica, Belize and the northern Caribbean. Additionally the LDCs, particularly Saint Lucia, Dominica and St. Vincent &

16470-423: The variety, the total length of a stem can be between 0.5 and 4 metres ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 and 13 feet). Some cultivars also form shoots up to 16 m (52 ft) in length. However, these do not form underground storage organs. The hermaphrodite , five-fold and short-stalked flowers are single or few in stalked, zymous inflorescences that arise from the leaf axils and stand upright. It produces flowers when

16605-446: The various CARIFTA states gave notices of withdrawal from CARIFTA which brought about the legal termination of CARIFTA's provisions within their jurisdictions and ultimately the complete legal dissolution of CARIFTA itself. Thus the dates of withdrawal from CARIFTA are as follows: The regional co-operation under the CARIFTA agreement also led to the foundation of several common institutions. The Commonwealth Caribbean Regional Secretariat

16740-723: The war effort. It also served as a refuge for Jews displaced from continental Europe, where the Nazis and Fascists worked to destroy them in the Holocaust. British colonists built the first railway system in British Guiana: 98 km (61 mi) of 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) standard gauge , from Georgetown to Rosignol, and 31 km (19 mi) of 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) line between Vreeden Hoop and Parika; it opened in 1848. Several narrow-gauge lines were built to serve

16875-617: The western boundary of British Guiana with newly independent Venezuela . Venezuela did not accept the Schomburgk Line , which placed the entire Cuyuni River basin within the colony. Venezuela claimed all lands west of the Essequibo River as its territory (see map in this section). The dispute continued on and off for half a century, culminating in the Venezuela Crisis of 1895 , in which Venezuela sought to use

17010-686: The winter months. In Sri Lanka, it is called bathala , and tubers are used mainly for breakfast (boiled sweet potato is commonly served with sambal or grated coconut) or as a supplementary curry dish for rice. The tubers of this plant, known as kattala in Dhivehi , have been used in the traditional diet of the Maldives . The leaves were finely chopped and used in dishes such as mas huni . In Japan , both sweet potatoes (called satsuma-imo ) and true purple yams (called daijo or beni-imo ) are grown. Boiling, roasting and steaming are

17145-613: The workings of the CARIFTA Agreement including collecting, collating and analyzing regional statistics and economic data as well as improving customs procedures and training customs personnel. The second was the General Services and Administrative Division which held responsibility for the general administration of the Secretariat and the non-economic aspects of regional integration such as education, health, meteorology, shipping and so on. In 1973, CARIFTA became superseded by

17280-416: Was due to the fact that though the Scheme worked satisfactorily, it was cumbersome due to the need of each of the 6 participating monetary authorities to keep individual accounts for all of the other participants and the growth of intra-regional trade requiring an increase in the volume of credit to be provided. Additionally, despite all countries extending credit on a bilateral basis, Trinidad and Tobago became

17415-656: Was encouraged by the Governor Chin Hsüeh-tseng (Jin Xuezeng). Sweet potatoes were also introduced to the Ryukyu Kingdom , present-day Okinawa , Japan, in the early 1600s by the Portuguese . Sweet potatoes became a staple in Japan because they were important in preventing famine when rice harvests were poor. Aoki Konyō helped popularize the cultivation of the sweet potato in Japan, and

17550-479: Was generally positively received. The inclusion of those states would have expanded CARIFTA's market by 8.5 million people and increased the subscribed capital of the Caribbean Development Bank (which had been linked with the formation and operation of CARIFTA) by approximately US$ 17 million. By 1971 however, Errol Barrow, Prime Minister of Barbados, saw no real advantage in including Haiti and

17685-489: Was intended to encourage balanced development of the Region by the following: In addition to providing for free trade, the Agreement sought the following: Although CARIFTA itself was limited to trade in goods, it freed approximately 90% of intra-regional trade in manufactured goods and instituted managed intra-regional trade in some agricultural products. Between 1968 and 1973 the absolute trade, diversity of traded goods and

17820-559: Was not as yet a member of the Association) being invited to participate in the initial meeting (and in all future discussions) of the regional Ministers of Education in regards to the establishment of the Caribbean Examinations Council and the overall regional plan for cooperation in education at the 1970 Heads of Government Conference. The Bahamas was also quite involved in the transformation of CARIFTA into

17955-588: Was resolved to introduce the free trade area by May 1, 1968, with the delegations of Montserrat and British Honduras (Belize) entering reservations to the conclusions of the resolution due to the constitutional status of their governments at the time. As a result of this a supplementary agreement to the original Carifta Agreement was signed in Georgetown, Guyana on March 15, 1968, and in St John's, Antigua on March 18, 1968, with Carifta Day set for May 1, 1968. The new CARIFTA agreement came into effect on May 1, 1968, with

18090-645: Was set up in Georgetown (Guyana) and the Caribbean Development Bank was established in Bridgetown, Barbados. One of the legacies of CARIFTA is an international youth athletics event for junior athletes from the member states started in 1972 by the association and inaugurated (and thought up) by Austin Sealy (then president of the Amateur Athletic Association of Barbados) to mark the transition from CARIFTA to CARICOM called

18225-506: Was the site of a significant slave rebellion in 1823 . In the 1880s gold and diamond deposits were discovered in British Guiana, including what was thought to be the world's largest diamond in 1922. They did not generate significant revenue. Bauxite deposits proved more promising and would remain an important part of the economy. The colony did not develop any significant manufacturing industry, other than sugar factories, rice mills, sawmills , and certain small-scale industries (including

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