Group of Rio 24

Group of Rio meet that begins Saturday to Tuesday in Playa del Carmen, a resort city on Mexico's Caribbean coast, looks set to focus on aid to crisis in Rio nations ,specially Caribbean nation Haiti, struck by an tremblor on Jan. 12 that measured 7.3 on the Richter scale and killed more than 200,000 residents.

The summit to add Caribbean island nations to the existing Group of Rio 24- nation membership with Six of Caricom's 15 members are also Rio members on an individual basis. Foreign Ministers from 31 nations began a meeting that included all the members of Group of Rio and the Caribbean Community, apart from St. Vincent, in Playa del Carmen on Saturday.

The meeting, opened by Mexico's foreign minister, Patricia Espinosa, is the first formal event in a four-day meeting billed as the Unity Summit and expected to produce a new organization, the name to be decided.

Patricia Espinosa ,inaugral speech to the ministers, attended by the media too described the summit as "a collective achievement by a region that is ever more united and strong."

She said the goal of united organization was first mooted during December 2008's Latin American and Caribbean Summit, held in Salvador de Bahia in Brazil.

"A year ago in Brazil we decided that the Group of Rio and the Caribbean Latin America Summit should have the same meeting and agenda," Espinosa said. "We have now agreed a common agenda. This shared space will allow us to overcome obstacles of earlier times. With full respect for the diversity of the region ,we are ready to move forward."

Mexico's Foreign Ministry said that 26 of the 32 heads of state invited have confirmed their attendance for the Summit. Those who did not do so included Peru, St. Vincent, Guyana, St. Lucia, Surinam and the Bahamas.

Mexico suffered most during the crisis, with its economy registering a decline of 10.3 percent during its worst point in 2009. Rio Group's largest economic powerhouse, Brazil, came out relatively unscathed, growing modestly through the year as a whole.
Mexico, whose key concerns are climate change and its war against organized crime, will present a report on its time running the group before handing over its leadership to Chile, which will have the first chance to publish its own agenda.
On Sunday, Mexico will host a meeting with Caricom, the Caribbean economic community which is largely made up of island nations that are former United Kingdom colonies, although mainland nations Guyana and Belize also participate. Mexican government holding Unique Unity Summit and whole event is made up of a day for foreign ministers, a day for Caricom heads of state and two days of meetings for the Rio heads of state, which include Latin region heavyweights like Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia. A Foreign Ministry official said on Saturday that 26 heads of state have confirmed attendance from a total guest list of 32.

United States, absent for the meeting, may appear in topic for discussion on recent allegations from Venezuela that US had exploited the disaster in Haiti to stage a military takeover of the state, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. But U.S. has strongly denied the allegation and Venezuela is a longstanding harsh critic of U.S. foreign policy.

Regional media have reported that the arrival of thousands of U.S. troops during the emergency has raised hackles elsewhere. Concerned parties include Brazil, which is the single largest contributor to the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti and which has a much smoother relationship with the absent giant.

The Rio meet appear sjourn where the region' s powers thrash out their differences, couple of years back it brought together the presidents of Ecuador and Colombia, Rafael Correa and Alvaro Uribe, shortly after Colombian soldiers had raided a camp belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on Ecuadorian territory, triggering the suspension of diplomatic relations between the two. At the end of that meeting, in Dominican Republic capital Santo Domingo, Correa and Uribe shook hands for the first time after the incident, after Uribe made a public apology.

Group of Rio came into exitence in 1986 as a successor to the Contadora Group of four that formed to support peace efforts in Central America then with eight members and had been adding members steadily since then.

Now presently Group's members are Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela. Caricom's members are Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago.