By Kimberly Ramkhalawan
May 19, 2023
The United Kingdom’s foreign secretary in region after years of absence in efforts to drum up post-BREXIT trade allies.
Gathering on the heels of the Coronation of its newest Monarch head, King Charles, the 11th UK-Caribbean Forum took place in Jamaica on Thursday, with UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly present to lead discussions.
Emphasizing its longstanding relations as shared with the region, Cleverly sought to paint a picture of wide ranging issues that explores its depth held between Caribbean nations and the United Kingdom.
Noting that trade between the UK and CARICOM has redounded significantly since 2021 despite the COVID 19 pandemic, jumping to 110 percent between that period and 2022, Cleverly says it has been paying dividends. And while collaboration on climate change established by the loss and damage fund at COP 27 has resulted in what he describes as “a very proud moment when its landmark bio-diversity agreement went areas beyond national agreements”, he called for other areas requiring more action to come the fore, listing climate change, energy and food security for all as requiring long-term solutions, all which have been sadly setback by the current Russia-Ukraine war.
In this regard, Cleverly says countries around the world ought to use its network of connections and relationships it has to tackle these challenges head on, together.
During the opening remarks of the session, Cleverly described those gathered as “old friends and long term allies of the United Kingdom, united through ties of kinship”, as people the Caribbean have played a disproportionate and positive impact in the UK economically, socially, culturally, not just in the last few decades, but over the centuries, and must take advantage of those long standing ties by working bilaterally, regionally and multilaterally.
Kamina Johnson Smith, Chair of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica in welcoming her British peer, expressed how important having relations with the UK was to the region, being one of the longest partners in development, with bonds built on shared cultures, trade and crucial contributions that have been made and are being made by the peoples of the Caribbean to the development of the United Kingdom. Johnson Smith described these ‘values and strengths of these connections’ as being ‘undeniable’.
Remarking on the 25 years since the forum was established, she noted that it remained the “foremost mechanism for high-level political consultation and dialogue between the United Kingdom and the Caribbean. These engagements have led to deeper cooperation which has been critical to its goals of shared security, prosperity and development”.
She expressed hopes on having fruitful discussions on the Windrush generation and reparatory justice. However, the meeting on the forum she says has allowed them “to keep their finger on the pulse of emerging needs and opportunities in an ever evolving global environment, providing and improving resilience and flexibility as a tool for strategic engagement”. Johnson Smith in reflecting since the last forum was held virtually in 2021, said “the world has been forced to witness the tragic return of war in Europe, with the security and humanitarian needs resulting from the war in Ukraine are of course being felt by UK’s counterparts, but in the region, its far-reaching impacts are also being felt, particularly in form of a looming food and energy bills”. Meanwhile, she added that associated sanctions already continue to exacerbate an already fragile economic situation where smaller economies are disproportionately affected.
And while she noted that “the Caribbean has long championed and will continue to champion the principles of sovereign equality of states, territorial integrity, non-interference, the peaceful settlement of disputes and adherence to international law”, she urged countries to “use existing systems to address the global consequences of the war on developing countries and to bring conflict to an end”.
With regard to not being able to meet the target of 1.5 degrees Celsius as agreed upon in the Paris Agreement, and the Caribbean’s survival hinged on what she called “an ambitious climate action plan”, the Jamaican Foreign Affairs minister said “the fulfillment of climate financing commitment by the global north, both urgently required”. In that breath, she said the “upcoming COP 28 must be faced with a sense of realism and a spirit of innovation”. She lamented that one of the areas Caribbean states were forced to call for advocacy included the “OECD criteria for graduation”, all of which she said held an interlocking crisis faced which deepened “the urgency of the call for attention to new approaches to the international financial architecture and its alignment with collective desire and intentions to achieve the sustainable development goals”.
Other areas Johnson-Smith alluded to being part of the financing problem, included the introduction of the “Multidimensional vulnerability index to allow a flexibility for developing countries to work toward sustainable development beyond recover to pre-pandemic levels”.
With that, she urged her visiting UK peer to engage its G7 counterparts in Hiroshima, Japan, when it participates this week, to convey these messages from the Caribbean, problems she hopes will be fully enunciated following the Caribbean forum, giving hopes that the UK will be an advocate for the region, in which she expressed is “inextricably intertwined” and was dependent on the success how well these constraints faced by the region were addressed
While CARICOM SG, Dr Carla Barnett refrained from reading her entire speech, she shared her support for the Memorandum of Understanding to be signed with a mechanism for follow up to be put in place, and with hopes that the developing process that will take the region forward. In her message as shared online, Dr Barnett, shared that CARICOM recognises the need for strengthened cooperation and reinforcement of our partnership to achieve common goals. The UK is a longstanding development partner for the Region. Our relationship is founded on historic and economic ties that provide a base for deep collaboration”.
Minister Johnson Smith says while the meeting is said to have an ‘ambitious agenda’ crafted around three thematic areas, including sustainable and economic development, security and immigration, and the promotion of common values and shared interests, its expected that trade and investment will be given the focus and the operationalization of the UK-CARIFORUM EPA, the crosscutting issue of financing for development, strategies to address the climate and environment crisis, and deeper cooperation in the areas of security, defense, education and health.