HAVANA, Cuba.- The 33rd Summit of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) opens Wednesday in Saint Lucia, where heads of state and government will focus on a joint regional foreign policy, reforms within the bloc, the support of Haiti and issues related to youth development.

According to a communiqué issued by the regional organization, all heads of state are attending the three-day Summit, with the only exception of the Prime Minister of Belize, Dean Borrow, PL news agency reported.

The event will also count on the participation of the general secretaries of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Inzulsa, and the Africa, Caribbean, Pacific Organization Mohamed Ibn Chambas.

The summit is being coordinated by Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Kenny Anthony, who is the CARICOM pro-tempore chairperson.

During the summit, CARICOM will bestow its highest distinction, the Order of the Caribbean Community, on Mohamed Kamaluddin, a Trinidadian politician who has firmly supported regional integration.

CARICOM was founded in 1973 as an organization aiming at commercial integration, joint coordination of foreign policies and the promotion of cooperation in education, culture and the industrial sector.

The organization is made up of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Montserrat and Trinidad-Tobago.