Foreign Ministers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the United States Secretary of State yesterday agreed on the need to work together on a number of issues of mutual interest and the region raised the need for COVID vaccines.
In a virtual meeting, the two sides adverted to the inextricable link between the Community and the US and welcomed the Roundtable Discussion as an initial engagement between the new US administration and CARICOM.
According to a release from CARICOM, Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Immigration of Belize and Chair of CARICOM Council’s for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR), US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque made opening statements.
The release said that all three speakers expressed support for St Vincent and the Grenadines as the country battles the on-going eruption of La Soufriere volcano. Both Courtenay and the Secretary-General spoke on the need for access to concessional development financing based on vulnerability, particularly in this challenging period for the Region given the Covid-19 pandemic, La Soufriere volcano and the impending hurricane season.
The release said that discussions at the meeting focused broadly around the COVID-19 pandemic and its health and economic fallout, recovery of the regional economy, climate change and democracy, human rights and security.
The CARICOM Ministers urged the US to assist with access to much needed COVID vaccines which was an imperative for the region to emerge from the economic devastation caused by the pandemic, the release said. The US has a stockpile of AstraZeneca vaccines which it is not using and CARICOM would likely be expecting that some of these could be made available to the region.
Secretary of State Blinken voiced his determination to strengthen co-operation and co-ordination and said that he would engage with his colleague US Cabinet Secretaries on the issues of mutual interest raised by the CARICOM Ministers, the release stated.
