– outgoing Chair, PM Mitchell
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) over the past year has been faithful to its mandate to provide decisive leadership to propel the prosperity and well-being of citizens of the region, while speaking with one voice and premising all its interactions on the vision of a Caribbean Community, which is truly “A Community for All.”
These were some of the sentiments expressed by outgoing Chair of CARICOM, Prime Minister of Grenada, Dickon Mitchell, during his end-of-year message, a CARICOM release stated on Friday.
To reinforce his message of community, the Prime Minister referred to this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, when CARICOM member states rallied to support those who were adversely affected by Hurricane Beryl and other weather systems. In addition he spoke of other events and initiatives that also highlighted the Community’s desire and willingness to act in concert to bring the region even closer together.
Sister state, Haiti, continued to be a priority with CARICOM leaders focussed on resuming functional governance and security there, through engagement with Haiti’s political leadership, and facilitation with political, religious, private sector and civil society stakeholders by the CARICOM Eminent Persons Group (EPG). These engagements with key Haitian stakeholders led to consensus on the formation and installation of a Haitian-owned and led Transitional Presidential Council; selection of a Prime Minister and a Cabinet of Ministers; and the arrival of the first troops of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission. However, Mitchell did acknowledge that the consensus remains “very delicate and will require much effort in 2025.”
Mention was made of the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) held from May 27 to 30 and hosted by member state, Antigua and Barbuda, where a new ten-year programme of action, the “Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS”, was articulated. In addition, there were also key high-level international meetings to address the ongoing challenges of the impact of climate change.
Concerning the region’s ability to adapt to and recover from digital challenges, the CARICOM Chair expressed his pleasure at being able to champion the “Strategic Digital Resilience Framework 2030” at the July meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government. This was supported by existing plans for the CARICOM Single ICT Space, including digital skills and artificial intelligence. He noted, “Further bold and decisive action is particularly crucial as we prepare for 2025 and beyond, where the pace of regional and global change will demand a CARICOM that is digitally capable and resilient.”
Moving on to the region’s food and nutrition security efforts, mention was made of the launch of a regional agricultural insurance product to assist CARICOM farmers. Every effort was made to involve women and young people via CARICOM BOOST, a two-year, US$1.6 million project to enhance sustainable production, climate resilience, and profitability for women and youth farmer groups across ten CARICOM member states; and with a “Regional Youth in Agriculture Strategy”, focussing on education, capacity-building and market linkages.
In concert with the objective of reducing the region’s food import bills, CARICOM has been making efforts to increase air and maritime connectivity, to support, among other things, the regional transportation of food. To this end, the Multilateral Air Services Agreement (MASA) is now in force in almost all Member States, and there has been significant increase in regional airlift and connectivity.
CARICOM also continued its partnerships with Third States, hosting several successful high-level engagements to discuss cooperation, including a Summit with the Republic of India, an engagement with Brazil, meetings with Canada and Japan, and representation in critical international fora such as the Fourth International SIDS Conference, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, COP29 in Azerbaijan, the United Nations Summit of the Future, and the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
In closing, Mitchell passed the baton to the Incoming Chair of the Conference, Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, and expressed confidence “that she will enjoy the same stellar support that I received, and that under her astute leadership, our Community will decisively further our integration goals.”