By Kimberly Ramkhalawan
July 4, 2023
It might be their 45th Regular heads of government meeting, which was carded to take place in Dominica, as its Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit assumed the office of chairman, however, with the meeting coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago took it upon itself to host the meeting, going back to the birthplace of the community.
This year once again sees United Nation’s Secretary General Antonio Guterres present for the regional leaders meeting, marking once again the growing importance of the Caribbean to the global organization.
His visit comes also on the heels of his visit to Haiti, the country which has been under siege by gangs since the murder of its President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.
And while much focus this year has been placed on the integration movement as envisioned by the founding fathers of the treaty, Prime Ministers, Errol Barrow of Barbados, Forbes Burnham of Guyana, Michael Manley of Jamaica and Dr Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago, host of this year’s event, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, shared despite politics having its role in not having a single “Caribbean Nation from northern Bahamas to our Brazilian border with Guyana and Suriname”, he said it could have been a much better world if “we had accepted three quarters of a loaf instead of no bread. However, what’s done is done. Let us not despair because in the absence of political union we were able, if not through vision but through necessity, we have been able to salvage a good chunk of regional functionality in very many areas (notwithstanding the stress dished out by the men’s cricket team”.
He nevertheless described CARICOM “as the next best thing” in bringing about regional movement” as he noted that “we are stronger together and even though we are an amalgam of small pieces of the globe, on the world stage, we might be small but we are not insignificant. At Caricom we are at our strongest. We could be at our best. Let’s claim our space in this world and just DO IT.”
Once again the UN SG pledged his continued support pushing for “a robust international security force – authorized by the Security Council – to be able to help to help the Haitian national police to defeat and dismantle the gangs”. He also reiterated his “call to all partners to increase support for the national police in the form of financing, training, and equipment”, however noted that “there can be no lasting security without strengthened democratic institutions – and there can be no strong democratic institutions without a drastic improvement in the security situation”.
With regard to the milestone leaders gathered to celebrate, Guterres shared that the anniversary marked “a time for critical reflection on the enormous challenges confronting the Caribbean”. And while he says change will not happen overnight, he remarked that “Caribbean leaders have been pointing the way forward – including Prime Minister Mia Mottley through the Bridgetown Initiative and Prime Minister Andrew Holness through the Finance for Development initiative”. Citing two areas of regional importance for tackling, Guterres pointed to the issue of financing and climate crisis on the agenda, including the introduction of “a Climate Solidarity Pact, in which all big emitters make extra efforts to cut emissions, and wealthier countries support emerging economies to do so” also part of the Acceleration Agenda to boost these efforts.
However, regional leaders shared that there were other thoughts on their minds even as they marked the occasion.
Taking up the mantle as Chairman of CARICOM, PM Skerrit put forward the question to his regional counterparts, “what is really preventing us from reviving the Single Domestic Space that once allowed our citizens to traverse freely across our Region? He called for the region to make intra-regional transport a joy rather than a hassle.
Noting that it has “already tried and tested the Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS), which allows Immigration and Security personnel in each of our countries, full access to the details of every passenger boarding an aircraft or ferry. The APIS system, also makes a nonsense of the continued use of ED forms”.
He added that currently there was the “Implementation Agency for Crime and Security System (IMPACS) and the Regional Security System, (RSS), institutions the region has relied on during the toughest of times are both well-equipped to complement the workings of the Advanced Passenger Information System.”
For CARICOM Secretary General, Dr Carla Barnett, the 50th Anniversary theme underscores CARICOM is 50 years strong, and the solid foundation it is built on, “laid regionally and internationally by stalwarts who have been standard bearers for integration and for CARICOM to have its rightful place in the global Community”.
She sought to remind those present the role CARICOM has played in the global front, from it spearheading the “formation of the African Caribbean and Pacific States, now the OACPS, and led negotiations with Europe for preferential trading arrangements”, to its struggle before the UN to recognize Small Island Developing States, which later played “a pivotal role at COP 21 Paris, 2015 resulting in an agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels”, as well as its leaders that led “the charge towards the International Criminal Court”, along with it declaration in 2001 in Nassau the development of health policies bringing to fore the issues of “Non-Communicable Diseases, NCDs, to global attention in the Port of Spain Consensus of 2007”.
On Tuesday, the leaders returned to the place of the signing of the treaty, the Chaguaramas Convention Centre, for a flag raising ceremony, as well as the installation of a time capsule to mark the occasion, to be opened in 50 years to come. A cultural event celebrating the region’s diversity is set to also take place later on Tuesday at the National Academy for Performing Arts, in Port of Spain.
The CARICOM Meeting will continue until July 5th, with plenary sessions said to take place with regional heads and quasi-cabinet ministers on issues affecting the region at this time.
