The incoming Chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council on Foreign and Community Relations, Kamina Johnson Smith, said she remains confident that Friday’s discussions between India and CARICOM officials “will be fruitful and reflect the spirit of cooperation that defines CARICOM-India relations.”
Addressing the CARICOM-India Ministerial meeting, Johnson Smith, who is also Jamaica’s Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, said that the inaugural CARICOM-India summit was held in September 2019, setting “the tone for deepened political engagement.”
She told the meeting, which is being attended by India’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. S. Jaishankar, that “it has been, and is still our responsibility as ministers, to perpetuate the momentum generated from that pivotal meeting.”
She recalled that during the last engagement held in the margins of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, ”We expressed our intention to strengthen the collaboration between us.”
She said since then India has taken the Presidency of the G20 under the theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future,’ affirming the value of all life and the interconnectedness on Earth and within the Universe.
“CARICOM member states take your Presidency, the messaging of your theme and this engagement as an excellent context within which to expand on our earlier discussions and to identify new areas for enhanced collaboration in the multilateral sphere, to promote our mutual interests as developing states,” Johnson Smith said.
She said the CARICOM grouping has benefited from its cooperation with India in many areas, including through collaboration with the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) where “we have engaged in capacity-building projects and programmes in health, agriculture, disaster management, fisheries, information and communication technology (ICT), and diplomacy.”
She said under the principle of Vaccine Maitri, India was among the first countries to donate vaccines to CARICOM during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, “thus demonstrating its commitment to the welfare of developing nations and further, to equitable access to vaccines. India’s generosity helped Caribbean Countries address an unprecedented global crisis and saved Caribbean lives.”
She said that while she regretted that the CARICOM-India Joint Commission could not meet during the visit of the Indian External Affairs Minister, “we are aware that it is intended to meet biennially and I offer assurances that our officials will propose new dates.
“CARICOM countries welcome the opportunity to review existing technical cooperation and explore new initiatives to pursue jointly our development priorities,” Johnson Smith said, noting that the engagement on Friday “also gives us time to reflect on the common values shared by CARICOM and India, namely our commitments to democracy, sustainable development and multilateralism.
“These principles provide a foundation for co-operation between the Caribbean Community and India in international fora. We share a firm understanding that traditional development financing frameworks do not meet all the needs of the developing South; and that climate change presents an existential threat to our societies, acknowledging the realities of a global crisis where Small Island and low-lying coastal Developing States (SIDS) are paying the price for the advancement of developed states.”
Johnson Smith said that partnerships with larger nations and economies, such as India, are essential to amplify the concerns of the Caribbean Community and other SIDS on the global stage.
“We know that in the context of the G20, India has sought to highlight the concerns of small vulnerable states such as ours, including on food security. We have every faith, that this will continue. With solidarity and collective action, we can pave a way forward to secure prosperity for future generations,” she added.
Meanwhile, CARICOM Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett, said the 15-member regional integration grouping attaches great value to the bonds of friendship that have been forged with India over the years.
“India has remained a vital partner of the Community since the region established formal diplomatic relations in 1997. Subsequently, steady progress has been made through regular political engagements and structured development cooperation arrangements,” she said.
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