BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — CARICOM leaders Friday paid glowing tribute to their Trinidad and Tobago counterpart, Keith Rowley, who was making his last appearance at a CARICOM summit after having announced his retirement from active politics after 45 years.
Rowley, who has served as prime minister from 2015-2025, is expected to announce the date of his departure sometime after his return to Port of Spain on Saturday from the three-day summit that ended on Friday night.
Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that Rowley will now have more time to spend in the pavilion as a spectator and that “his colleagues who remain on the field wish him well”.
Holness said that for him personally, coming in as prime minister in 2016 and meeting Prime Minister Rowley when relations between Jamaica and Trinidad “were possibly at an all-time low, where there were threats of boycott and threats of blocking citizens’ movements.
“And then we met and struck up a friendship,” Holness said, adding, “I said, listen, Prime Minister, come to Jamaica. Come and visit me, man. Let us start this thing over. And Prime Minister Rowley graciously accepted the visit to Jamaica.
“You were my first international guest. And we had a very good talk about the issues. We developed a powerful relationship. And we were able to resolve the issues. And I think today trade is better,” he said, adding that the movement of citizens between the two countries is better.
“I think the region is better, and I want to publicly say how pleased I am and how privileged I feel to have served with you as a colleague in this fraternity, and that you are truly the epitome of a Caribbean man. You will be missed on the scene, but I’m sure your voice will be heard.”
Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali said he has developed a “very strong friendship” with Rowley, adding “he is my brother, and his contribution to Guyana is enormous from many perspectives”.
Ali recalled the role Rowley and CARICOM played in resolving the controversy that followed the last general elections in his country.
He said Rowley was the chair of CARICOM during the very difficult period after the 2020 elections, “a time when there was great tension, democracy was under threat, rule of law, and respect for the results from the elections”.
Ali said Rowley arrived from an international engagement during the early hours of the morning called by Prime Minister [of Barbados] Mia Motley and made his way to Guyana,” and the rest is history.
“Democracy, rule of law, respect for the elections, and having the region leading in the resolution was a historic moment for this region. And I want to applaud his leadership as chair and the entire team at that time that allowed CARICOM to resolve a matter within CARICOM”.
Ali said that the second historic moment in the relationship of Guyana and Trinidad, but in the region itself, was when leaders achieved the Argyle Agreement in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, regarding the border dispute between Venezuela and Guyana.
“ I want to thank you, again, Prime Minister Rowley, for your commitment and your involvement in that matter. Your strong views, you know, those who know him, the stone face, don’t be carried away with the stone face and the hard views.
“Beneath that, we have had, since my time here, very strong conversations, but at the end of it, they were all geared towards the best interests of the region and to give us the best possible result. I want to thank you for your friendship, for your guidance, and for how we have been able to work together, but in the region, to strengthen our relationship and our bonds.
“I wouldn’t say I’ll miss you, because I’m sure I’ve said it publicly already, that the experience our leaders built up over the years must continue to be the reservoir of knowledge, and also the asset that we must rely on in this region. Thank you very much for your service, sir.”
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley speaks to the media in Bridgetown, Barbados, after the 48th Summit of CARICOM on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (CMC photo)
Bahamas Prime Minister Phillip Davis said his first impression of Rowley was that he is a “cold” person.
“… someone told me, I don’t know whether it’s Andrew or Irfaan when I became Prime Minister in 2021, said, ‘No, he’s a good guy, you know.
“Just get to know him. Just get to know him, and you’ll know that he’s a good guy. I got to know him, and he truly became a good guy. Then I realised that he was a geologist, and that’s why he became what he worked with — a stone.
“But again, he’s been a rock, an anchor, for the steady progress that we’ve made since I was here as part of the CARACOM leadership; been dependable as a rock, he’s been as steady as a rock, as I said, been the anchor.”
Mottley said that Rowley has been “highly principled” and has been never fearful of a situation.
“And we will take from you that as we continue to manage our affairs in this community. And as all have said, we know that you are a phone call away and that your love for this region is really what has driven you to excel in the manner in which you have,” she added.
Rowley told the meeting that he is grateful to have been “part of this team.
“And just for the moment, permit me to say that when I joined this group of people with the responsibility for Caribbean nations, it was a time when there was a huge negative view of CARICOM.”
He recalled his first summit in Guyana, where the elder statesman, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, speaking without a script, but speaking from the heart, criticised the Caribbean region and “those who write about us and speak about us for downplaying what we have been able to accomplish through CARICOM.
“And he asked us not to undervalue CARICOM, even though there was a long journey still ahead. That was 2015. And it pleased me when, at the opening, outgoing chairman, young Dickon Mitchell, said on Wednesday night, I think it was, that he came in as a prime minister in CARICOM, very skeptical of this thing that he had to work in called CARICOM, but he admitted that he had become a convert to CARICOM and a great believer in this entity.
“And I think it means a lot to us that we are, in fact, a valuable gathering. And as Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, who hosted us all at the 50th anniversary at the founding location in Chaguaramas recently, I simply want to leave by asking my colleagues to continue to subscribe to what I’ve encouraged you to do because together we are always stronger in every single circumstance.
“Once we are together, we’ll be stronger, through incise physically, but certainly we will not be inconsequential, especially, especially at this time where the world is changing from news hour to news hour.
“We are required to rise to the occasion and never accept that we can be left behind. … I want to thank all of you who have already spent some time with you in your various territories, including Martinique, where I’ve climbed so many volcanoes, today was a very emotional moment for me to be a part of the Caribbean nation welcoming Martinique into CARICOM as an associate nation.
“This is something that is like a dream come true, and, if there’s anything I can do to continue to be of service to the people of the Caribbean, it is the one nation that I have, the country of Trinidad and Tobago in CARICOM, shy away or serving as I’ve tried to do. Thanks to all of you who made it possible. for me to contribute and to be with you as a brother and as a Caribbean man.
“So having said that, thanks again. And on that basis, I accept the honour of bringing this unusually successful historic meeting to a close. The 48th conference of the heads of government is now at an end. Thank you for your time,” Rowley said.