Even as governments and other institutions in the region work to clear a comfortable path on which to lay the foundation for enhanced social and business ties between Africa and the Caribbean, countries and institutions continue to take pleasing initiatives in support of further strengthening the foundation on which a more robust relationship can thrive.
Earlier this week, news reached the Caribbean that the Republic of Malawi, formerly known as Nyasaland, a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa, had announced visa waivers for eleven (11) countries in the Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as Trinidad and Tobago, a move that provides the Caribbean with opportunity to expand what is now an insatiable appetite to ‘know Africa.’
The visa waiver, which came into effect this month has reportedly been well received in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states which, even now, are in the throes of building bridges with other parts of Africa largely through the enthusiasm of regional governments and the respective roles being played by Caribbean Export and the African Development Bank
The timing of the Malawi visa disclosure could hardly have been more significant. It comes on the heels of a series of initiatives originating in the Caribbean that are designed to serve as attraction points for the rest of the world. Unquestionably, these days, there is ample room for a multi-faceted mutually rewarding relationship between the Caribbean and Africa.
While, reportedly, there are concerns about Malawi’s macro-economic stability, a January 2 World Bank report of the country’s economy says that it has moved forward over the last three months, despite concerns over expenditure side controls. An encounter between an emerging Malawi and a Caribbean on the rise, whose tourism sector has begun to ‘find its feet’ in the post COVID era, ought to beneficial for both sides.
Here in the Caribbean, an ever present tourism industry has been seeking to consolidating itself, a circumstance that gives rise to the prospects of a potentially mutually rewarding relationship between a region to which ‘sun, sand, sea and wildlife tourism’ has become commonplace and a country “whose heart,” according to its tourism promotional tag lines, “is ‘beating fast,’” offering, it says, a “legendary welcome… for all who wish to experience the unrivalled combination of Lake, Landscape, Wildlife & Culture.”
