Vice President Kamala Harris met with Caribbean leaders in Washington, D.C., to debate details of a latest partnership meant to deal with a few of the region’s most pressing needs, including access to finance, food production, energy security and climate change.
The September 15 meeting at Blair House included the leaders of 5 Caribbean countries: Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley of Trinidad and Tobago, President Irfaan Ali of Guyana, President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic and President Chan Santokhi of Suriname.
This meeting is a vital follow-up to the partnership commitments made by the Biden-Harris administration to the Caribbean on the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June.
The push to explore ways to enhance cooperation between the USA and the Caribbean region is a welcome change from U.S. policy toward the region, which has generally lacked consistency. And, often fluctuated based on crises relatively than the creation of sustainable strategies for collaboration on account of shared interests and priorities.
The Biden administration will partner with the region to deal with energy security, access to finance and food security within the Caribbean—three areas identified as top priorities by Caribbean leaders.
“The connection between the USA and the Caribbean relies on common bonds and interests,” said VP Harris in remarks ahead of the discussion. “As neighbors within the Western Hemisphere, we consider it’s critical that we now have a relationship that relies on close cooperation, knowing that the results of that will likely be our shared prosperity and security, which is why we, the USA, have pledged to extend our commitment and engagement with our Caribbean partners,” she added.
The Biden administration created three high-level motion committees to “develop concrete, near-term solutions to the pressing challenges within the region” in the course of the June summit in Los Angeles. Co-chaired by the USA, some leaders of the 15-member Caribbean Community regional bloc generally known as CARICOM and the Dominican Republic, the committees have held nearly a dozen technical and high-level meetings since June to create motion plans, in response to the White House.
The mid-September meeting within the nation’s capital was convened to review the progress made up to now on integrated efforts to strengthen energy security, improve access to finance and enhance food security within the Caribbean through initiatives like training programs, regional conferences and public-private partnerships.
“I stand in my belief that it’s critical we make the fitting decisions today, for the sake of the world tomorrow,” said Mottley in a press release following the meeting.
A lot of these actions are supposed to construct on and move the implementation of the U.S.-Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis, or PACC 2030, forward. Among the many initiatives, the U.S. has committed to supporting energy infrastructure and climate resilience projects, in addition to assisting Caribbean countries in accessing financing for climate initiatives and identifying and launching clean energy and climate projects.
America can even provide technical assistance to Caribbean nations, bring investors to the region, and improve access to development financing. As well as, the Biden-Harris administration says addressing food security within the Caribbean and world wide is a priority, with VP Harris noting that “the work has already begun.”
The U.S. has committed $28 million to supply food security assistance to the Caribbean. It’ll remove non-tariff barriers to facilitate the movement of food to the region as a component of the plan.
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