by STAFF WRITER
March 2, 2022
By Peter Richards
SAN PEDRO, Belize, Mar 2, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders have ended their two-day inter-sessional summit here, announcing plans to send a delegation to Haiti as well as being pleased with the progress being made towards the further implementation of measures regarding the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
In addition, they have also condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and called for the withdrawal of troops from the Eastern European country.
Host prime Minister and CARICOM chairman, John Briceno, told the end of summit news conference that the deliberations at the summit had been “enriched by our physical presence” in reference to the event being the first regional leaders meeting that had not been held virtually since the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic two years ago.
“One of the highlights of the meeting was the important and stimulating presentation by President (Irfaan) Ali of Guyana, who laid out a comprehensive plan for development of the agri-food sector that was embraced by all,” Briceno said, congratulating the Guyanese leader and his team for their “excellent work”.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who also spoke at the news conference, said that the regional governments had recognised that ‘food and water” were becoming the new oil “and that we needed to be able to reduce the volume of imports while at the same time increasing the opportunities for our agricultural sector.
She said that the region was also seeking to reduce the cost of food and encourage Caribbean people to eat more locally grown food “that would help us reducing the bills in the long run we spend in fighting non-communicable diseases”.
She said she was pleased with the presentation of President Ali, who has lead responsibility for Agriculture and Food security in the quasi CARICOM cabinet.
‘We are happy that we have gotten this far,” she said, adding that the next step will be an investment conference in Guyana, May 19-21, bringing together the public and private sector “in order to determine what the investment opportunities are.
“Broadly speaking, we recognise that not only can we be self-sufficient in poultry in the region. We are importing just over US$200 million in poultry a year, we recognise we can also seek to position ourselves by 2025 to be self-sufficient in food stock for poultry whilst still having the capacity to export”.
Mottley said that it is not beyond the capacity of the region “to urgently deal with the production of some of the things we are importing but it requires political will, it requires bringing together the complexity of the issues from crop insurance…to access to financing, to the removal of barriers, to technology and access to the land”.
Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed and infected thousands of people in the region, Prime Minister Briceno recalled the statement made to the leaders by the Executive Director of Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), Dr. Joy St. John that “we are not yet free of the virus and it is crucial that our vaccination rates be increased.
“The re-opening of our economies and of our education systems will be greatly assisted by an improvement in the rate of vaccination,” he said, adding that “we have agreed to mount a regional campaign to combat the disinformation that encourages vaccine hesitancy”.
Briceno told reporters that the recovery process was also discussed with the CSME, which allows for the free movement of goods, skills, labour and services across the region, “identified as a major plank in that regard.
“We agreed to revive the CARICOM Economic Recovery and Transformation (CERT) Working Committee under the guidance of Prime Minister Mottley, to serve as a clearinghouse for the many recommendations being tabled and to guide the economic recovery and transformation process in the Community,” Briceno said, adding that representatives of the Caribbean Development Bank, the CARICOM Development Fund and the CARICOM Commission on the Economy have now been included in the Committee.
“We agreed that there was need to focus on greater production integration to help advance the CSME and it was decided that the President of Suriname (Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi ) would be the lead head of Government for Industrial Production in the CARICOM quasi-cabinet of Heads of Government. “
Mottley, who has lead responsibility for CSME within the CARICOM cabinet, told reporters that the protocol amending the CARICOM treaty “was opened this afternoon and a number of us signed.
“I can’t remember how many of us signed, but …this will mean, where the threshold of three countries raise an issue, once we can reach an agreement, two-thirds of the Community we can go ahead without unanimity.
“So that enhanced cooperation is critical towards us being able to progress within the Community without necessarily requiring everybody to move at the same pace and this is a recognition that there are individual circumstances in a community of sovereign nations that might not allow everybody to move at the same pace”.
On the issue of Haiti, Prime Minister Briceno said the regional leaders held discussions with Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry “so that we could decide specifically how the Community could assist our member state in resolving the difficulties which it is facing.
“Haiti is one of us and great injustices have happened in that country. Basically what we have done is…we will establish a CARICOM team to be able to visit Haiti with a view to providing support in the facilitation of dialogue.
“There are so many competing groups and it is important for us to be able to move forward in Haiti that we have to bring everyone around the table. We have to support the administration holding credible elections,” he said, adding “it is of no use having an election right now (and) you have a large portion of your population not accepting that.
“As CARICOM we want to be able to support the framework for long term development and building democracy through technical assistance,” Briceno said, adding that he expects the CARICOM team, which would also include government ministers to visit the French-speaking CARICOM member state within “the next few weeks”.
Briceno said that the regional leaders also expressed their “deep concern at the situation in the Ukraine” and that a statement would be issued on that matter.
“The pain and suffering that is being inflicted on the people of Ukraine is unwarranted and a flagrant violation of international law. We continue to urge Russia to cease its attack on the country.
“Just as importantly, we reaffirmed our commitment to the Caribbean Sea as a Zone of Peace bearing in mind instabilities and threats which we perceive in the region,” he said.
CMC/pr/ir/2022
