The populace of the Caribbean Community is encouraged to take advantage of a multi-billion market opportunity to create new industries that will lead to new economic prospects, intra-regional trade and cross-border investments.
Shaun Baugh, CARICOM Programme Manager, Agricultural and Agro-Industrial Development, referenced the multi-billion-dollar opportunity as he explained how the Region intends to achieve its goal of reducing its US$6B food imports by 25 per cent by 2025.
CARICOM Heads of Government want regional businesses to take advantage of Suriname’s offer of land for agricultural development. This was confirmed in the Communique issued at the end of the Forty-Sixth Regular Meeting of the CARICOM Heads of Government.
In a recent interview ahead of the Forty-Sixth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Georgetown, Guyana, where climate change was discussed, CARICOM Assistant Secretary-General, Economic Integration, Innovation and Development, Mr. Joseph Cox, stressed the importance of curbing global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The CARICOM Secretariat, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture of Guyana, The University of the West Indies, and other partners, held an agricultural exhibition on the grounds of the Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana last week to raise awareness of the Region's agricultural potential as it makes progress to achieve the goals of the 25 by 25 Initiative. The exhibition was held on the sidelines of the business sessions of the Forty-Sixth Regular Meeting of the Conference
The Forty-Sixth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was held from 25 – 28 February in Georgetown, Guyana.
Chair of the Conference, His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana, presided over the Meeting.
“We are on target.”
The CARICOM Secretariat has collaborated with the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) to present the CARICOM Classic Inaugural Chess Tournament, an international celebration of strategy, equity, and unity. This inaugural CARICOM Classic Team Chess Tournament will be held at the Ramada Georgetown Princess Hotel, Guyana, from 3 -10 March 2024 and will coincide with the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Heads of Government are of the view that funds should be streamlined to ensure that there are no conflicting mandates.
In this regard, Heads of Government supported the establishment of the Blue-Green Investment Bank, which is being established by Barbados, whose mandate is exclusively on investments aimed at achieving adaptation and safeguarding resilience in our Region and in our individual Member States.
Following the inaugural symposium on Crime and Violence as a Public Health Safety Issue and the Declaration of the Heads of Government in Trinidad and Tobago on 17-18 April 2023, CARICOM Heads of Government met in caucus in Georgetown, Guyana, on 27 February 2024 to discuss the prevailing dire state of crime, violence, and public safety amongst its Member States.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) remains on the frontlines of global climate crisis, an issue the Region has been aggressively advocating on for the past thirty years. Despite the many commitments and promises of international partners, the window of opportunity to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is rapidly closing.