March 4, 2022
The Caribbean Heads of Government (HOG) meeting came to an end on Thursday. We initially thought it was nothing but the regular blather, the obligatory glib comments on helping Haiti, crying about the weather (climate change) and them puffing their chests, bleating on about things that ain’t their business, the Ukraine and Russia conflict- like they would be able to do anything to put an end to the crisis, or on the other hand stop the global wave of ripples that go with large scale conflicts.
However, this meeting was slightly different. Could it be that the ladies in charge have decided to do thins differently? We’re talking about the CARICOM Secretary General, Carla Barnett and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
How was this meeting different, you ask? Well, if you read our breakdown on how CARICOM can tackle the high food bill and them meeting with the Central American Integration System (SICA), you can see there is an idea for at least greater and more meaningful regional partnerships.
While the comments by Prime Minister Mottley on food security was still a little flimsy, lacking in details on what should be done and outlining what has worked in the past, the greater focus on this partnership with Central America is worthy of further investigation.
There is very little difference between the Caribbean and Central America outside of the language barrier and the latter having a greater proportion of indigenous people. Belize, where this year’s HOG meeting was held, is a Caribbean country and is in Central America. Guyana is on the South American continent and I would dare to say Venezuela and Colombia are all our brothers and sisters.
That SICA partnership can help with increasing food production because countries like Guatemala and Panama have built up their farming systems over the last several decades, thanks to American investment and grit. We can learn from this!
So CMP has to eat its words. The meeting was good for something after all.