Colombia’s newly minted Ambassador to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Martha Pinilla, has declared her country’s intention to take part in the Caribbean mega-festival of arts – CARIFESTA XIV.
According to a CARICOM release, the Secretary-General, Irwin LaRocque extended the invitation to the Ambassador, as he received her credentials at the headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown.
CARIFESTA XIV is scheduled to be held in Trinidad and Tobago from August 16 – 25.
The Secretary-General told Pinilla that CARIFESTA XIV is an “excellent opportunity” for Colombia and CARICOM to share their cultural experiences and noted that the significant presence of people of CARICOM origin in Colombia, presented ideal opportunities to strengthen relations.
Pinilla in turn, spoke of the enhancing of diplomatic ties with the Region as a foreign policy priority of President Iván Duque’s government. She noted that the presentation of her credentials was one of several actions in that regard. Other actions include visits to eight CARICOM countries by Colombia’s Foreign Minister, Carlos Trujillo, and a bilateral meeting with the Secretary-General.
CARICOM and Colombia are expected to resuscitate high-level political dialogue to discuss cooperation in areas of mutual interests on June 29th, in Cartagena, at the First Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of CARICOM and Colombia.
Secretary-General LaRocque said his recent discussions with Trujillo focussed on areas such as trade, technical cooperation, disaster management and security. However, he stressed the importance of reviving trade between CARICOM and Colombia in light of data which revealed that total trade exceeded US$3 billion as of 2013, but declined to US$520 million by 2016.
In this regard, he said the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) has agreed to Colombia’s proposal to host the seventh meeting of the Joint Council – the main implementing mechanism established under the 1994 Agreement on Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation between CARICOM and Colombia.
Pinilla agreed that the Agreement, “is an ideal tool to continue interlacing” CARICOM and Colombia.
While the Agreement addresses economic and technical cooperation, the Secretary-General said human resource development, science and technology, research and development, renewable energy, tourism and agricultural development, and migration were other areas of common interest that could be explored.
The release also stated that LaRocque had requested Colombia’s support for CARICOM’s advocacy for international policies that allow for a balanced approach in the provision of financial resources to help Small Island Developing States combat climate change and build their resilience.
