Canada-Caricom Summit: Pres Ali discusses oil, investments & agriculture with PM Trudeau

– as Canada plugs nearly $90M into Caricom for renewable energy, vaccine equity

President Dr Irfaan Ali on Thursday held bilateral discussions with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa, on the sidelines of the inaugural Canada-Caricom Summit.
The summit, held under the theme “Strategic Partners for a Resilient Future”, ended on Thursday.

The Guyanese Head of State was among the group of regional leaders who travelled to the North American nation for high-level engagements. According to a post on President Ali’s Facebook page on Thursday, following his engagement with the Canadian Prime Minister, “Discussions focused on Canada’s support for the development of Guyana’s oil and gas sector, the two countries shared values and approaches to climate resilience, food security, investments, and agriculture.”
It was also noted that PM Trudeau further reassured of Canada’s support for Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of rising tension with neighbouring Venezuela.
During the inaugural summit, a Canada-Caricom Strategic Partnership Agreement was launched on Wednesday to further embed the close collaboration and cooperation between the two sides on mutually agreed sectors.
At the closing press conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Trudeau committed to fighting climate change, crime and vaccine equity in the region, and consequently pledged almost $90 million in foreign aid for the region.
Climate change was a central focus at the Ottawa summit. According to the Canadian Leader, during Wednesday’s session, discussions centred not only on fighting climate change, but also on the fact that protecting the environment is good for economies.
“Clean, reliable, affordable energy is a great example of how climate action and economic growth can and must go together,” Trudeau has said. On this note, he announced that Canada would be spending some $58.5 million on the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to support renewable energy projects in the region, and another $6 million through the Caribbean Climate Smart Fund (CCSF) for resilient and renewable energy systems.
Additionally, the crisis in Haiti was also a top-priority area during the discussions between the hemispheric leaders. Trudeau pledged another 3.4 million of previously approved funds to address firearms violence in Haiti, as well as support the Haitian National Police (HNP) armory and armorers.
Moreover, he disclosed that Canada would also invest $3.2 million in the Caribbean Firearms Roadmap, to address firearms trafficking and proliferation, and deepen coordination between the Canadian Armed Forces and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, to provide rapid delivery of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
An additional $18.3 million from Canada’s Global Initiative for Vaccine Equity to strengthen health and immunisation systems and improve equitable access to vaccination in Haiti was committed by the Canadian PM.
These pledges were made during the first day of the summit. On the second day, Trudeau convened a trade and investment roundtable that included Canadian investors to deepen business ties and create new opportunities for workers. They discussed ways to diversify trade and expand investment in key sectors, like financial services, resilient infrastructure, clean tech, information and communications technologies, and natural resources management.
They also discussed shared work to build sustainable economies that work for everyone, as Caribbean countries continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
To create new opportunities for businesses and workers, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that Canada is expanding the Commonwealth Caribbean Countries Tariff program (CCCT), which gives countries in the region duty-free trade access to the Canadian market for the vast majority of goods, including textiles and apparel.
“Our citizens are living the devastating realities of climate crisis, whether that’s wildfires in Canada, or hurricanes and rising sea levels across the Caribbean. We’re facing supply chain issues, global inflation, and food insecurity. So, in times like these, it is so important that we strengthen our relationship with friends and like-minded partners… The ties between Canadian and Caribbean communities, businesses and people run deep, and we’re making these ties even stronger,” PM Trudeau has said.
During the second day of the summit, President Ali led the Caricom side during the sessions, having had to take over from the current Chairman, Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, who was forced to return home to deal with a tropical storm threatening his nation. The Guyanese Leader is next in line to assume chairmanship of the Caribbean Community, in January 2024.
At Thursday’s closing press briefing, President Ali said he and his Caribbean colleagues are pleased with the outcome of the Canada-Caricom Summit, which he said definitely deepened the trust, friendship and relationship between the two sides.
“We spent a lot of time together creating a framework and an ecosystem to support investment partnership, especially with the private sector, and discussing issues surrounding an enabling policy environment that will support the aspirations of both Canada and Caricom… Food security, development, financing, regional transport and logistics, and enhanced facilitation in the movement of people between Canada and Caricom. These were some of the key issues that we discussed.
“Of course, sustainable energy security, creating a balance between climate and energy needs of Canada, the region and the world; and importantly, technology and innovation; how do we ensure a seamless transfer of the innovation and technology from Canada that can support the development of the region?” the Guyanese Leader stated.
Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, who was also at the closing briefing, added that Canada and Caricom found a lot of common ground that will lay the foundation going forward.
“We found common ground with respect to Canada’s strength, that can be made available to us in the region on the issue of regional security, national safety and security; providing equipment which we find difficult (to access) in the region; standing with us and voicing our concerns about being disregarded in the international community of finance in response to climate change; standing in defense with us, where only this week we were reporting that two of our Caricom nations found themselves being excluded from the international banking community,” PM Rowley stated. (G-8)