US Vice President Joseph Biden yesterday credited the Caribbean Community (Caricom) for encouraging his country to “make the change” with Cuba.
At a meeting with Caribbean Heads of Government in Washington DC yesterday, Biden and expressed his thanks for that encouragement, a Caricom Secretariat press release said.
Caricom had long advocated an end to the economic and trade embargo on Cuba by the US as well as for an end to the isolation of Cuba from the hemispheric councils. US President Barack Obama recently announced steps towards the normalisation of relations between the US and Cuba.
Meanwhile, the release said, Biden also indicated that he had advised the US Treasury Department to change its voting positions with respect to graduation policies of the international financial institutions. He was referring especially to financing with respect to renewable energy and natural disaster management.
Caricom has been lobbying consistently for a reversal of the policy which sees many member states being denied access to concessionary development financing due to being graduated through the use of GDP per capita as a major criterion. Japan has also indicated in recent times a willingness to revise its position on the same issue, the release said.
Meantime, according to the release, Caricom Chairman Perry Christie, Prime Minister of the Bahamas, said Caricom and the US have a “kith and kin relationship” which allows for a shared vision. He once again extended an invitation to Obama to meet Caricom leaders.
The meeting was a follow up to one held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in May 2013 and discussions centred on economic competitiveness, citizen security and issues raised at the earlier meeting including energy and climate change.
Biden reported that following that session, the US had included the Caribbean in its broadband partnership for the Americas.
He also said that before the end of the year six Caricom countries would be enlisted on an electronic system which was being implemented by the US to track criminal deportees. This, he said, would give more complete information on the deportees to help the receiving countries deal with the problem, the release stated.
