Towards Broader Economic Relations between the Nordic Countries and the Caribbean Basin

This report is originally financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the objective of assessing different options for technical and economic collaboration between the Nordic countries and the Caribbean Basin (Caribbean and Central America). Since the revolution in Nicaragua in 1979, there has been a growing interest for this area in the Nordic countries, both politically and in terms of development cooperation. This special interest, it is claimed in the report, should be transformed into a broader regional perspective for mutual collaboration between the two regions. By stimulating the development of inter- and intra-regional trade - across ideological and even military barriers - the Nordic countries with their di f ferentiated superpower relations may contribute to pull the Central American conflict out of the East-West pattern imposed on it. This report proposes a concrete Nordic initiative consentrated to six countries in the Caribbean Basin region: Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic. The Nordic countries should undertake a comprehens ive discussion and analysis of cooperation options based on several concrete project ideas presented in this report. The projects include incentives to strengthen trade relations, as well as support to the development of mutually sustaining productive activities in the Caribbean Basin countries through transfer of technology and Capital from the Nordic region.