Remarks by H.E. Mr David Málaga, Ambassador of Peru to CARICOM at his Accreditation Ceremony, 23 November 2022

• Your Excellency, Dr. Carla Barnett, Secretary General of the Community of Caribbean States.

 It is a great privilege and honour for me to be here at the Headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat to present the Letter of Credence by which His Excellency Pedro Castillo, President of Peru, appoints me first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Peru to the CARICOM.

 Peru has established diplomatic relations with all CARICOM Member States and closely coordinates positions at regional or multilateral organizations. Our friendly bilateral relations are based on our mutual respect and commitment to international peace and security, democracy, sustainable economic growth and development and the rule of law, which are essential to the progress and prosperity of all mankind.

 We have made an especial effort to strengthen our political dialogue and cooperation with CARICOM, and recently His Excellency Cesar Landa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, held a working meeting with all CARICOM Representatives during the OAS meeting in Lima, last October, and it will be an honour for Peru to actively participate in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the subscription of the Chaguaramas Treaty on July 4th, 2023.

Peru also shares with all Member States of the Community the priority given to moving past the COVID-19 pandemic and to achieve regional security and economic recovery.

We are ready to work together to attain food security and the transformation of our agriculture structures, and to overcome the vulnerability of our countries to climate change due to global warming.

We also consider there is an urgent need for a systematic global response to provide developing countries with adequate financial support to recover their tourism industry.

An accreditation of a Representative of Peru to CARICOM is part of the new level of our active interaction between Peru and CARICOM and the Caribbean Region, to forge a more meaningful and productive relationship for the direct benefit of our peoples.

On June 16th, Peru has presented a proposal to CARICOM of a Memorandum of Understanding for the Establishment of a consultation and Cooperation Mechanism between the Caribbean Community and Peru. Now we are ready to start a program of Cooperation in the fields of political consultation and economic, commercial, technological and cultural exchange; covering such important areas as disaster management and prevention, tourism and fisheries, three critical priority areas for Peru and CARICOM.

We have a common history of natural disasters that have devastated our countries and affected our populations and now we face the danger of plastic pollution contaminating our oceans so we are ready to start the program of cooperation with a workshop on prevention and management of natural disasters in the beginning of next year.

I thank you, once again Madam Secretary General, for the honour of accepting today my Letter of Credence.