Next July 15/16, many of the leaders of the Caribbean will be in London for their bi-annual pow-wow with British leaders (including Prime Minister Gordon Brown it is hoped) .They will discuss matters of mutual interest at the UK/Caribbean Forum.
Preparatory work for that summit has already begun. Last week the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office summoned the best and brightest of the various UK West Indian diasporae to a round table to discuss the issues likely to dominate in July. Around a table in the elegant surroundings of the Locarno Dining Room of the FCO sat some big fish — Floella Benjamin, the TV presenter; Colleen Harris, the former Press secretary to the Prince of Wales; a Baroness; a Lord; a Bishop; four MBEs and one OBE. All a tribute to those who had made it in the UK, all giving their views to Megg Munn MP, the Foreign Office Minister responsible for the Caribbean. She is the fulcrum of July’s forum.
Among the pressing matters discussed, and likely to feature in July, were the ever-growing security threat in the Caribbean and the distortion provided by the drug trade and increasing gun crime; the fragile economies of the region and their dependence on one crop or one service and ways of ensuring more stability for them all and the consequences of climate change on the region. One startling fact showed that problem starkly -50% of Caribbean people live within one mile of the sea. If that rises, the human effects do not bear contemplation.
These three issues — crime, climate change and simple economics – are likely to dominate the proceedings.
