Context:
- India is in contact with the government of Dominica regarding the possibility of repatriating diamantaire Mehul Choksi who is wanted for defrauding banks in India.
- However, Dominica announced that Mr. Choksi will be sent back to Antigua as the request for repatriation came from the Antiguan authorities.
- India has friendly ties with both Antigua and Dominica that are members of CARICOM, the regional group of Caribbean island nations.
Relevance:
Prelims, GS-I: Geography (Maps), GS-II: International Relations (International Groupings)
Dimensions of the Article:
- About Dominica
- About Antigua
- Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
About Dominica
- Dominica (officially the Commonwealth of Dominica) is an island country in the Caribbean whose capital is Roseau.
- It is geographically situated as part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea.
- The island is located near Guadeloupe to the northwest and Martinique to the south-southeast.
- Dominica has been nicknamed the “Nature Isle of the Caribbean” for its natural environment.
- It is the youngest island in the Lesser Antilles, and in fact it is still being formed by geothermal-volcanic activity, as evidenced by the world’s second-largest hot spring, called Boiling Lake.
About Antigua
- Antigua is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region in the Lesser Antilles with St. John’s as the capital city.
- Antigua is the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Barbuda became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1981.
Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
- The Caribbean Community (CARICOM or CC) is an organization, established in 1973, of fifteen states and dependencies throughout the Caribbean having primary objectives to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, to ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and to coordinate foreign policy.
- Its major activities involve:
- Coordinating economic policies and development planning;
- Devising and instituting special projects for the less-developed countries within its jurisdiction;
- Operating as a regional single market for many of its members (Caricom Single Market); and
- Handling regional trade disputes.
- CARICOM was established by the English-speaking parts of the Caribbean, and currently includes all the independent anglophone island countries plus Belize, Guyana and Montserrat, as well as all other British Caribbean territories and Bermuda as associate members.
- Currently CARICOM has 15 full members, 5 associate members and 8 observers.
-Source: The Hindu
