(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) - The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Kingdom of Spain have signed a new agreement for technical cooperation in food and nutrition security, health, climate change, and disaster risk reduction for the next five years.

These focal areas were approved at the IV Meeting of the Joint Commission of the Spain-CARICOM Fund which was held recently at the CARICOM Secretariat headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana.

The meeting was intended to continue the dialogue between CARICOM and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) to establish priority areas of cooperation and define the strategic objectives for a new cooperation program, within the framework of the Scientific and Technical Cooperation Agreement between the two parties.

Ms. Elizabeth Solomon, Assistant Secretary-General for Foreign and Community Relations, signed the agreement on behalf of the CARICOM Secretariat, while His Excellency Antón Leis García, Director of AECID, signed for Spain.

Ms. Solomon stated that the areas were "well-aligned" with the Community's aims of increasing food security, addressing climate change, and strengthening regional health systems.

In terms of health, she said: "CARICOM's strategic focus is centered on addressing emerging health challenges and fortifying health systems in the Region, with specific emphasis on prevention and control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), enhancing maternal and child health outcomes, strengthening health systems to ensure universal access to quality healthcare services, and addressing environmental health threats”.

She also stated that the Community is working to reduce the region's food import bill by 25% by 2025, improve intra-regional trade, strengthen the agri-food system, foster long-term wealth creation opportunities for potential investors, and ensure food and nutrition security for all CARICOM Member States.

With reference to climate change, the Assistant Secretary-General stated that the meeting occurred at a time when several CARICOM Member States were working to recover from the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Beryl.

“The storms that impact the Region are becoming stronger and more frequent…The lack of access to concessional development financing and climate funding affects our ability to adapt to this crisis. Therefore, we must act urgently alongside development partners such as Spain to ensure the Community can face the challenges ahead,” Assistant Secretary-General Solomon stated.

The AECID Director highlighted the importance and urgency of discussing how to work multilaterally as like-minded partners to address matters such as development finance, climate action, and support for Haiti.

“We are very engaged in Haiti. We never closed our office. We remain engaged. We have contributed three million dollars? to the international mission that is being deployed there. We salute the leadership of CARICOM not only in trying to bring security and stability to the country but also in forging a political solution and we are very encouraged by the developments on the ground,” Mr. Leis stated.