Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Friday held “wide-ranging sectoral cooperation” discussions with Foreign Ministers from the Caribbean Community (Caricom) in Georgetown, Guyana.
This was part of the Fourth Caricom-India Ministerial Meeting that was held at the Caricom Secretariat in Georgetown. The meeting was co-chaired by Minister Jaishankar and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, Senator Kamina Johnson, who is the incoming chair of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR).
Minister Jaishankar is currently in Guyana on an official visit from April 20 to 24.
In a tweet on Friday, the Indian Minister said during the meeting they “…discussed our wide-ranging sectoral cooperation, including in trade & economy; agriculture & food security; health & pharma; energy & renewables; infrastructure, ICT & e-governance; development partnership & capacity building; higher education; culture and [people-to-people] domains.”
Jaishankar added that they also exchanged views on vital issues of climate change and disaster resilience; counter-terrorism; reformed multilateralism, and closer cooperation at multilateral forums. He said too that an agreement was made to follow-up steps taken to further cooperation, including holding the second Joint Commission Meeting later this year.
Friday’s meeting was attended by the Foreign Ministers from Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. The Bahamas and Belize were represented at the level of Parliamentary Secretary and Ambassador.
The Caricom Secretary General, Dr Carla Barnett, also participated in the meeting.
In a statement from Guyana’s Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ministry, it was noted that the meeting focused on trade and economy, agriculture and food security, health and pharmaceuticals, development partnership/capacity building, higher education and culture and people-to-people exchange. They also discussed common issues of concern on the multilateral agenda such as climate change/disaster resilience and counter-terrorism, the Ministry said.
inister Todd addressed three of the issues which are of critical importance both nationally and regionally namely agriculture and food security, energy including renewable energy and climate change/disaster resilience.
Under agriculture and food security, he highlighted the Regional 25 by 2025 initiative aimed at reducing the Region’s food import bill by 25 per cent by the year 2025, pointing out the need to effect upscaling of production through horticultural experts/specialists in the production of high value crops such as broccoli and plant propagation.
The Minister also highlighted the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana initiative (insurance on agriculture schemes) and solicited India’s support in crafting policy and legislation for agriculture insurance in member states. Given the Region’s vulnerability to the impact of climate change, sharing of technology, knowledge and best practices on how to manage an early warning and dissemination system was further identified as another important area for cooperation.
In the area of energy, including renewable energy, Minister Todd underscored energy security as a priority for the Region and expressed value in the Indian-led initiative, the International Solar Alliance. He pointed out that Guyana’s energy plan was rooted in the Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030 which addresses all aspects of transformational development within Guyana and encourages evaluation of energy mixes such as natural gas, solar and wind.
With regard to climate change, Minister Todd noted that 85 per cent of Guyana remains standing forest and this contributes to the survival of the Region and the world. He revealed that the Region looked forward to the operationalising of the loss and damage fund, which was an outcome of COP 27, as an urgent priority and welcomed India’s support in advancing the process. He reiterated Caricom’s commitment to the pursuit of renewable energy options to promote sustainable development and pointed to Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy which commits to preserving Guyana’s rainforest to lower carbon emissions, noting that it also includes wider environmental services, water resource management, marine economy and land management.
In concluding, the regional Foreign Ministers committed to enhanced cooperation programme between Caricom and India. They also agreed to the hosting of the Caricom/India Joint Commission later in 2023 which is the mechanism that would provide the framework for the implementation of the programme of cooperation.
The Caricom India cooperation framework is three tiered and operates at the level of the Caricom-India Summit, Caricom-India Ministerial Meeting and Caricom-India Joint Commission. Engagement at the ministerial level provides the opportunity for the deepening of the Caricom-India partnership, through discussions on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest and concern. It demonstrates the intrinsic value of and strong commitment to strengthening south-south cooperation.
