GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – Guyana’s President, Dr Irfaan Ali, on Monday said that differences of opinion within the 15-member regional integration grouping, Caricom, should not be viewed as ‘divisive” as he sought to soften the recent impact of differences in the regional integration movement.
“While we must strive earnestly for consensus, a plurality of views, and at times divergence in perspectives are essential to the vitality of our deliberations,” Ali said as he addressed a joint session of the Belize Parliament.
Ali, who is on a three-day state visit to the Caricom country, said that differences of positions were also good for the regional grouping.
“Such diversity sharpens analysis, strengthens decision-making, and ensures that outcomes are more inclusive and reflective of our lived realities. Respectful disagreements are not a source of fragmentation,” he said.
He said that Caricom has stood the test of time for more than 50 years, remaining resilient and relevant in a changing global environment, even as he acknowledged that the time has come to strengthen the organisation.
“It is now incumbent upon us to make the community stronger, more responsive, and better equipped to serve both the collective and national interests of our peoples. This requires renewal, commitment, and a shared sense of purpose,” Ali said.
Caricom leaders are due to meet in St Kitts and Nevis from February 24-27, and in recent times, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has been critical of the integration movement following her country’s support for the United States war on drugs in the Caribbean.
Last December, Persad-Bissessar said the regional organisation was “not a reliable partner at this time” and that every sovereign state must be prepared to accept the consequences of its foreign and domestic policy choices as she defended the United States’ announcement of partial entry restrictions on nationals of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica.
“Caricom cannot continue to operate in this dysfunctional and self-destructive manner,” Persad-Bissessar said, highlighting what she described as poor management, lax accountability, factional divisions, destabilising policies, and inappropriate meddling in domestic politics by some member states.
She also noted that the organisation’s support for the then Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela, which has been accused of human rights violations and threats against Caricom members, further undermines its credibility.
She insisted that the Caribbean was not a zone of peace, given the violent and deadly spate of crime in the region.