By Peter Richards
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — CARICOM leaders ended a three-day summit here on Friday night, describing their deliberations as “very good and instructive” and signaling their intention to hold talks at the highest level with the United States as Washington adopts a new foreign and trade policy under Donald Trump.
While Prime Minister Mia Motley, who is also chair of the 15-member regional integration movement, did not confirm whether talks would be held with Trump, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne had earlier indicated that Trump would be invited to the region.
“Of course, we looked at the geopolitical issues, global political geopolitical issues, the changes in the United States, and we’re hoping to engage senior members of the US administration as soon as practicable,” Browne said as he left the caucus meeting for his home.
“We’re hoping that we will be successful in inviting President Trump to the region. It’s very important for him to pay some attention to the third border of the United States, and also to enter into meaningful discussions as to how US policies will impact on the region, especially the smaller countries within the OECS sub-region,” Browne told reporters.
Browne said that while no specific timeframe had been set, the Caribbean leaders were anxious for the meeting given the change in American policies since Trump came to office on Jan. 20.
He said that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had “taught us that no one is safe until all of us are safe. So we’re hoping that we can engage, perhaps initially, at the level of the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and then with a subsequent engagement with President Trump as we seek to strengthen the relationship between the region and the United States.
“We don’t have any specific timelines, but these are aspirations, and we’re making every attempt now to, in the first instance, to meet with senior Trump officials, or Trump administration officials, to include Marco Rubio, and subsequently with the President himself,” Browne said.
Mottley, speaking at the news conference at the end of the summit, told reporters, “I don’t want to place a date, but as recent as this morning, we were in contact with the special envoy of the President of the United States of America for Latin America and the Caribbean (Mauricio Claver-Carone) and we fully anticipate that there will be a high-level meeting soon”.
‘a very good and constructive meeting’
Earlier, she said the leaders attending the three-day 48th regular meeting “had a very good and constructive meeting.
“We are not in any way daunted by the challenges, but we are approaching them with a calm confidence and a recognition that unity more than ever will be required from us to meet the common challenges that the world has presented, from the changing geopolitical environment to the climate crisis to the international economic shocks that are potentially still there, to the consequences of the climate crisis with respect to the production of food, or the consequences of diseases such as bird flu, that can lead to an unfortunate increase in the cost of food.”
Martinique closer to joining CARICOM
She said that the summit recognised that Caribbean countries must continue to expand and welcomed the signatures of France and Martinique, with the possibility of Martinique becoming the newest associate member of CARICOM.
“It is still subject to the ratification of the French Parliament but our engagement with them has been strong, and we are satisfying that all things will proceed there.”
Leaders not requiring unanimity on freedom of movement
Mottley said Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who has lead responsibility for external trade negotiations, was “able to guide us with respect to some of the challenges that we’ve been faced going forward.
“We were able to address the issue of freedom of movement, and one of the major decisions of the conference is that we will settle the arrangements that will allow smaller numbers of members of the community to act if they so desire, rather than requiring unanimity for action.
“Why is this important? Because if that protocol-enhanced cooperation is completely ratified by the end of March, it opens the way for a number of countries to be able to admit the possibility of freedom of movement for CARICOM nationals the first of June, with the important rights of primary and secondary education, emergency health care and access also to primary health care, recognising that families will move and that this will be the suite of rights that will be available to those countries that would want to participate in the freedom and movement.“
Mottley said that the Caribbean leaders are conscious that the region, with the exception of Haiti, has an acute problem of a declining and aging population, and therefore it is imperative that the region moves away from the gradual approach to the freedom of movement.
She said it was important to “move to the point where those of us who believe that we are ready for it can open up to ensure that that possibility, which has long been like the Holy Grail and the integration movement, can now become a reality in this year of 2025.”
maritime and air transport and tourism
She said the meeting also discussed the urgent importance of maritime transport and air transport, but in particular, building on the arrangements, the initial discussions and negotiations we’ve been having on ferry transport.
“We invited the private sector to be able to look at other opportunities with respect to how this can be facilitated with access to specific charter services, rather than the government assuming the responsibility for the purchase of equipment.”
Mottley said that an inter-governmental working group to be chaired by Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amery Browne, with other members coming from Barbados, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, and St. Vincent the Grenadines.
She said that the group will be able to identify, within the next six weeks, what has to be the work programme for the mutual recognition of various licenses, insurance cover, insurance products and to cover vehicles in multiple countries, the harmonisation, the customs and phytosanitary regulations necessary to see this movement of goods, “and to be more specific, to dismantle 57 barriers, non-tariff barriers, identified by the Caribbean private sector organisation that are currently affecting the smooth movement of goods, in particular across the region.
Mottley said that the summit had been able, as well, to interact with the executive director of the Jamaica-based Sandals tourism group and agreed on a number of things that would see the region accepting that the experience of Sandals as a tourism lab will help improve all that the region is doing in tourism to make the countries even more competitive.
She said that the CARICOM Secretariat and the Caribbean private sector organisation have agreed to create a list of products at a granular level, in agriculture, in manufacturing and entertainment that are regularly used by the tourism sector, so that we may better align it with the production possibilities within the community.
“In addition, that there may review of all hospitality training in the region. Sandals has the university. Many of our countries have hospitality training institutes. We would wish to see an alignment of all of those training opportunities for us,” she said, adding that it is hoped the regional countries will work with the Caribbean Hotel Association and the Caribbean Private Sector Organization “for Sandals, to be able to work with them so that we can discuss how all commercial properties can be appropriately green and can appropriately digitise their systems so that the region can remain competitive in this matter”.
Report on CXC
She said that the regional leaders also discussed the report from the concerned parents with respect to the Caribbean Examinations Council, and we’ve asked for them to meet with CXC to remove any misunderstanding or to improve what are their concern to improve the response to their concerns.
“But in addition to that, the community took a decision that the time had to come to the establishment of a CARICOM educational transformation commission, and over the course of the next few weeks, we will complete the terms of reference to that commission and the composition of that commission, because we all accept that our educational systems are not fit for purpose.”
Mottley said that the educational systems were “designed for a colonial period with a hierarchical structure that only saw a few of our people and not all of our people, and if we are one, to be able to ensure that we produce citizens fit for the time with the appropriate social and emotional learning targets, it is now”.