By Dr Indera Sagewan
Specialist Consultant, Competitiveness, Clusters and Value Chains
(Reprinted from the Trinidad Guardian)
The inspirational speech of CARICOM’s Chairperson and PM of Barbados Mia Mottley at the Energy Conference 2020 has been well reported on. Her call for regional unity in the exploration of our energy resources is long overdue. Credit to her, she has actioned this call by signing an agreement with T&T for the exploitation of any hydrocarbons that may be discovered in Barbados’ waters because we have the experience, knowledge and skills.
This is the reasoned CARICOM leadership needed at this juncture of the region’s development and given the convulsions both globally and regionally in energy. Individual island states have both similar and varied resource stocks as well as varying experiences and competences which should be leveraged to a common regional purpose, in this case, energy accessibility, affordability and security. It is therefore as much a time for specialization and trade as it is for competition in energy amongst CARICOM’s members.