THE progression of Latin American and Caribbean integration over the past 200 years will be the focus of a symposium at the Regional Headquarters of the University of the West Indies (UWI) on Wednesday.

The event is being hosted in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and will highlight the impact of Simón Bolívar’s letter after 200 years from the perspective of history, sovereignty and regionalism in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Arnaldo Brown, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade; Ambassador SR Insanally, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana; as well as representatives of Venezuela, Colombia and Panama, the UWI and the University of Toronto, will make presentations at the symposium.

Topics will include: A Shared History: Bolivar’s Caribbean Journey and South American Independence; Latin American-Caribbean Integration: Dream or Vision; and A New Era of South-South Cooperation: Development of Partnerships. CARICOM, Cuba and Venezuela 2005-2015.

The symposium closes with the launch of the book Dancing between the Raindrops: A Dispatch from a Small State Diplomat written by Ambassador Insanally, and an exhibition mounted by the Institute of Jamaica on the Bolívar-Jamaica Connection.