Guyana is advocating an urgent re-think of what Foreign Minister Hugh Todd on Monday told the Thirty-eighth Session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) are the “skewed criteria” which he said had been applied in “graduating” countries to middle-income status and which have now come back to haunt some “deserving countries from accessing much needed assistance to fight to overcome vulnerabilities, and in the process establish their resilience.”
On the opening day of the virtual event held against the backdrop of the global strictures in place to help fend off the rampaging pandemic, Todd used the forum to urge the international community to grant the Caribbean “the flexibility necessary to accelerate financial and technical support in order to contain the spread of the disease, sustain economic activity, protect jobs and alleviate liquidity constraints.” The countries of the region, Todd asserted, “… are in need of the flexibility necessary to accelerate financial and technical support in order to contain the spread of the disease, sustain economic activity, protect jobs, and alleviate liquidity constraints.” In this regard the Guyana Foreign Minister told the forum that policies and agreements must provide a compass designed to ensure that the region’s recovery strategies are in line with its medium and long-term development goals.
Todd’s appeal for an international mindfulness of the circumstances of the Caribbean was underpinned by what he said was the impact of the pandemic in “wreaking havoc on the health care systems, supply chains, and on tourism and trade in particular.” He said that to these should be added the challenges which the region has faced in “the procurement of medical supplies to treat our citizens infected with the coronavirus.” Cumulatively, Todd told the forum, the pandemic had exacerbated poverty, inequalities and vulnerabilities in the region, so that eradicating poverty in all its forms still remains a formidable challenge for the region.
