Delegations from Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member countries and Canada last week seized the opportunity afforded by their being in Washington, simultaneously, to participate in the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) to engage in discourse on matters relating to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Canada. In providing assurances that relations between the Caribbean and Canada remained on ‘even keel,’ the two delegations issued a Joint Communique alluding to what they described as the “enduring value of the deep and dynamic partnership” and their particular mutual interest in “strengthening their commitment to sustainability, resilience, climate action, access to finance, regional security, and shared values.”
A release from the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, apart from stating that the forum involved Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and a delegation from the region led by Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Chair of the CARICOM Council of Foreign and Community Relations (COFUR), Kamina Johnson Smith, stated that “the delegates underscored the need for continued vigilance in mitigating the devastating impacts of climate change, pursuing concrete action to re-build resilient and sustainable economies, cooperating on regional security, and increasing collaboration in multilateral forums among other matters.” The engagement also reportedly facilitated a review of the “concrete progress” on the Canada/Caribbean roadmap for action, during which discourse the two sides took note of results in areas that include climate resilience, trade, inclusive governance, and multilateral engagement. Back in February this year, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada was affording the Caribbean CAN $44.8 million in new initiatives to support CARICOM in pursuit of the region’s tackling of the climate crisis. The engagement also reportedly addressed the outcomes of the so-called Canada-CARICOM Expert Deployment Mechanism which, reportedly, completed forty eight (48) capacity-building initiatives in the region last year. Back in January, a visit to the region by Canada’s Minister of International Development, Harjit Saijaan, focused attention on relations between the region and Canada through visits to Jamaica and Barbados. The visit provided an opportunity for bilateral discourse on issues that included climate change, disaster preparedness and response, gender equality, justice sector reform, COVID-19 response and food security.
That visit allowed for the ‘signing off’ on a total of $127.75 million for three Canadian-funded projects designed to help “increase climate resilience, improve gender equality and justice services, and increase access to COVID-19 vaccines in the Caribbean.” Prior to the end of his visit to the region the Canadian Minister announced a further CAN $750,000 allocation for Dominica’s Climate Resilience Execution Agency (CREAD). Other climate-related allocations from Canada to the region were ‘signed off’ during the Minister’s visit earlier this year.
