The strength of the regional integration movement provides a solid platform upon which the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) can build its resilience within a global environment constantly in flux.
That sentiment was expressed by the Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, earlier today, Thursday 18 May 2017, when he addressed the opening of the 20th Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR). Barbados is host of the two-day meeting, being chaired by Maxine McClean, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados.
Ambassador LaRocque said COFCOR was meeting at a time when international order was in greater flux than usual. As the balance of power shifted and voids became evident in international leadership on matters of great global import, such as climate change, new and assertive actors were beginning to fill those voids, he added.
Officials who attended the opening of the meeting.
“Globalization and multilateralism, characterised by open borders, the institutionalization of economic and political cooperation, and shared sovereignty are unravelling, increasingly challenged by the rise of populism, protectionism and isolationism,” the CARICOM Secretary-General told the gathering of the Region’s Foreign Ministers
Some international developments had far-reaching implications for the Community’s well-being, the Secretary-General noted, highlighting the commencement of the Brexit process and a new US administration whose policy positions towards the Region were not yet clear. The uncertainty that potential policy reversals in the US brought to a number of critical global issues was also crucial to CARICOM.
Brexit, he said, involved parties that were among the Region’s major trading and development partners, making it important for the Community to maintain the strong relationships with both.
Imminent negotiations on the post-Cotonou arrangements which would define the future relationship between the ACP Group of Countries and the EU; the discussion on the revitalisation of the ACP itself, a construct which had been useful in bringing three regions together in common cause; and the ever-present existential threat of climate change were among the other issues he highlighted that had far-reaching implications for CARICOM.
The Secretary-General said CARICOM was adapting to change and building the resilience, even as it sought new opportunities for advancement and a strengthened Community.