The Fourth CARICOM India Ministerial Meeting was held yesterday at the CARICOM Secretariat Headquarters in Georgetown.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd facilitated the convening of the meeting to coincide with the official visit of Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to Guyana from 20 – 24, April 2023.
The meeting was co-chaired by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, Senator Kamina Johnson (as the incoming chair of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR)) and Minister Jaishankar.
A release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Johnson was joined by counterpart Foreign Ministers from Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. The Bahamas and Belize were represented at the level of Parliamentary Secretary and Ambassador. The CARICOM Secretary-General was also in attendance.
During the meeting the release said that the Foreign Minister focused on trade and economy, agriculture and food security, health and pharmaceuticals, development partnership/capacity building, higher education and culture and people to people exchange. They also discussed common issues of concern on the multilateral agenda such as climate change/disaster resilience and counter terrorism.
Todd homed in on three of the issues which are of critical importance both nationally and regionally namely agriculture and food security, energy including renewable energy and climate change/disaster resilience.
Under agriculture and food security the Minister highlighted the regional 25% by 2025 initiative, pointing out the need to effect upscaling of production through horticultural experts/specialists in the production of high valued crops such as broccoli and plant propagation. The Minister also adverted to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana initiative (insurance on agriculture schemes) and solicited India’s support in crafting policy and legislation for agriculture insurance in member states.
In the area of energy, including renewable energy, the release said that Todd underscored energy security as a priority for the region and expressed value in the Indian-led initiative, the International Solar Alliance. He noted that Guyana’s energy plan was rooted in the low carbon development strategy 2030 which addressed all aspects of transformational development within Guyana and encouraged evaluation of energy mixes such as natural gas, solar and wind.
The release added that the Foreign Ministers committed to an enhanced cooperation programme between CARICOM and India. They agreed to the hosting of the CARICOM/India Joint Commission later in 2023 which is the mechanism that would provide the framework for the implementation of the programme of cooperation.
The CARICOM India cooperation framework operates at the level of the CARICOM-India Summit, CARICOM-India Ministerial Meeting and CARICOM-India Joint Commission.
