diff --git a/setup.h_vms b/setup.h_vms
index 3f1e13a045..7b457b2a46 100644
--- a/setup.h_vms
+++ b/setup.h_vms
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  * Template for the set.h file for VMS                                       *
  * Created from setup.h_in                                                   *
  * Author : J.Jansen (joukj@hrem.nano.tudelft.nl)                            *
- * Date : 31 January 2019                                                    *
+ * Date : 13 September 2019                                                  *
  *                                                                           *
  *****************************************************************************/
 
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ typedef pid_t GPid;
 #endif
 #endif
 
-#ifdef VMS_GTK2
+#if defined( VMS_GTK2 ) || defined( __WXX11__ ) 
 #define wxUSE_CAIRO 1
 #else
 #define wxUSE_CAIRO 0
diff --git a/src/common/cairo.cpp b/src/common/cairo.cpp
index 7b29ef4065..53f0a300c0 100644
--- a/src/common/cairo.cpp
+++ b/src/common/cairo.cpp
@@ -395,7 +395,10 @@ bool wxCairoInit()
     return wxCairo::Initialize();
 }
 
-#ifndef __WXGTK__
+// the following code will not make sense on OpenVMS : dynamically loading
+// of the cairo library is not possible, since on OpenVMS the library is
+// created as a static library.
+#if !( defined __WXGTK__ ) || defined( __VMS ) )
 extern "C"
 {
 
diff --git a/src/common/descrip.mms b/src/common/descrip.mms
index ca0695e240..181e126786 100644
--- a/src/common/descrip.mms
+++ b/src/common/descrip.mms
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #                                                                            *
 # Make file for VMS                                                          *
 # Author : J.Jansen (joukj@hrem.nano.tudelft.nl)                             *
-# Date : 29 June 2017                                                        *
+# Date : 13 September 2019                                                   *
 #                                                                            *
 #*****************************************************************************
 .first
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ OBJECTS_X11=accesscmn.obj,dndcmn.obj,dpycmn.obj,dseldlg.obj,\
 	dynload.obj,effects.obj,fddlgcmn.obj,fs_mem.obj,\
 	gbsizer.obj,geometry.obj,matrix.obj,radiocmn.obj,\
 	taskbarcmn.obj,xti.obj,xtistrm.obj,xtixml.obj,\
-	combocmn.obj
+	combocmn.obj,cairo.obj
 
 
 OBJECTS_GTK2=fontutilcmn.obj,cairo.obj