Home Top Stories Regional development, peace & security top priorities as Pres Ali set to...
– highlights need for greater participation from private sector, labour, civil society to build CSME
Ahead of assuming the Chairmanship of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) in the new year, President Dr Irfaan Ali has highlighted some of the key areas that he will be focusing on while heading the regional body.
In a New Year Message published by the Caricom Secretariat on Friday, the incoming Caricom Chairman noted that 2023 was a period of reflection as the regional body marked the 50th Anniversary of the integration movement.
According to President Ali, they will continue to advance these ideals with the requisite undertakings which will allow Caricom nationals to exercise their right to free movement within the Community and to bring the regional capital market into being.
“We will also work on ensuring greater participation of all sectors of our Community, including the private sector, labour organisations and civil society, in building our Caricom Single Market and Economy. We will identify new avenues for targeted partnerships, especially with our young people, to encourage innovative approaches and renewed energy for sustained economic development and convergence,” the Guyanese Head of State added.
According to Ali, the objective is to improve the lives of citizens in the Region, through purposeful and sustained cooperation, by delivering high-quality health services, a more relevant system of education for young people, secure and amenable living environments, new jobs and a financial climate that is conducive to investments.
President Ali further noted that this New Year brings renewed possibilities to continue targeted programmes to advance Caricom’s strategic priorities to pursue the Region’s development goals and strive for peace and prosperity across the Region.
“Regional security is an increasingly critical matter. We live in a world where peace is challenged from one corner of the universe to the next. We ended 2023, however, with Caricom’s robust role in assuring the rule of international peace and security in our corner of the world and ensuring that Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole remained a Zone of Peace. We shall continue 2024 with this respect for international law. We all remain committed to peacefully and by legal means resolving border controversies.”
In maintaining that the Caribbean must remain a Zone of Peace, President Ali noted that Caricom has resolved to effectively address crime and violence in the Region, including combatting the illegal weapons trade through its “War on Guns” campaign. He added that they will leave no stone unturned in efforts to return its Member State, Haiti, to peace and stability.
“Our Region must remain a Zone of Peace,” he insisted.
Meanwhile, President Ali also noted that ensuring the Region’s food and nutrition security continues to be at the forefront of Caricom’s endeavours. Despite adverse challenges, including climate change, Caricom Member States have made steady progress towards achieving the “25% by 2025” target to reduce the Region’s food import bill by the year 2025.
“We will build on these achievements, including advancing our regional agenda for energy services that are available, reliable, affordable and sustainable – to support expected innovations in the agricultural sector. Crucial to this initiative is the need to improve regional transportation and this will remain as one of our top priorities,” he asserted.
Turning his attention to climate change, President Ali said Caricom will continue its advocacy for early and fair operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund, agreed at COP28. He added they also continue their insistence on the fulfilment of the commitments made by major emitters to be converted to actions to reduce emissions that lead to climate change with its deleterious impact on vulnerable Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Low-lying Coastal Developing States, such as Caricom Member States.
“We all know that SIDS does not contribute in any meaningful way to climate change, but we carry the heaviest burden of the impact: from more and stronger tropical cyclones to increasingly scarce and saline groundwater, to disappearing coastal lands, to degrading marine eco-systems, to stress on agriculture and other sectors. This is why our call for fair access to affordable financing to address the impact of climate change must and will continue,” he argued.
Nevertheless, as he embarks on his chairmanship journey, President Ali said he is heartened by the tangible evidence of what collective action and determination have already achieved in the Caribbean.
“I remain confident that the ongoing and new initiatives being implemented will help to ensure that Caricom is truly “A Community for All” …Let us approach this New Year with optimism, and a strengthened desire to pursue our shared objectives of unity and prosperity,” he posited.
As part of Chairing the Conference of Heads of Government for the period January 1 to June 30, 2024, Guyana will be hosting the 46th Regular Meeting of the Conference in February 2024 and continue the Community’s activities to mark Caricom’s 50th Anniversary. (G-8)
