The Association of Caribbean States (ACS; Spanish: Asociación de Estados del Caribe; French: Association des États de la Caraïbe) is an advisory association of nations centered on the Caribbean Basin. It was formed with the aim of promoting consultation, cooperation, and concerted action among all the countries of the Caribbean coastal area. The five main purposes of the ACS are to promote greater trade between the nations, enhance transportation, develop sustainable tourism, facilitate greater and more effective responses to local natural disasters, and to preserve and conserve the Caribbean Sea.
It has twenty-five member states and seven associate members. The convention establishing the ACS was signed on July 24, 1994, in Cartagena, Colombia and is deposited with the Government of the Republic of Colombia in English, French and Spanish languages. In the convention the founding observers were declared as the CARICOM Secretariat, the Latin American Economic System, the Central American Integration System, and the Permanent Secretariat of the General Agreement on Central American Economic Integration.
