(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) - CARICOM Heads of Government and the Hon. Ahmed Hussen, Minister for International Development of Canada, discussed regional resilience to natural disasters and strategies for improving access to financing during a working breakfast on the sidelines of the 47th Regular Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government in St. George's, Grenada.

Outgoing Chair of CARICOM and President of Guyana, H.E. Dr Irfaan Ali, briefed the media on the engagement late Tuesday, 30 July.

He thanked Minister Ahmed for "his strong involvement" in the meeting, which focused on the importance of sustainable housing development to strengthen resilience to natural disasters such as hurricanes, as well as rebuilding the agriculture sector, which President Ali said had suffered more than USD$150 million in losses due to the passage of Hurricane Beryl.

"We talked with him [about] how Canada might accelerate programmes and initiatives for the Region and deploy help in a shorter timeframe following [Hurricane] Beryl, with a focus on housing, digitalisation, upskilling, and investments in the transformation of our economies. We asked for a strong emphasis on resilience and sustainability, including the rebuilding of our housing stock," President Ali told the reporters.