KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves is proposing the establishment of an ABDC commission comprising Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and the Diaspora.
He said the ABCD Commission would be used to facilitate trade, economic linkages, education, health as well as air and sea transportation.
Gonsalves said he had proposed the Commission during his recent trip to Ghana and received support from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He told supporters of his ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) during its weekend convention that people may question why an interest in establishing the commission.
Gonsalves noted that Africa has 1.3 billion people in 54 countries and Brazil has a population of 210 million and that the South American country is the closest place to West Africa.
Further, Gonsalves said that half of the population of Brazil are of African descent and that he defines the Caribbean as the 25 countries washed by the Caribbean Sea, including the South American mainland and counties such as Mexico, Columbia, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras.
“That whole arc is 230 million people and the African diaspora in North America is about 40 to 45 million people,’ Gonsalves said, adding that all together that is 1.7 billion people.
“I am not saying that they must; have and we must have the links with America, and Canada and Europe and Asia, China and India. But this is an area of functioning, which we must build — the ABCD Commission.
“And the president of Ghana embraced the initiative and asked me to follow through on it with the other countries in this particular ABCD Commission,” Gonsalves said.
