Holness says Americas summit signalled 'shift' in how Caribbean views US

Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the just concluded boycott-hit Summit of the Americas in the United States was a "success" and signalled a "very important shift" in how the Caribbean region views the US.

He was speaking during an event hosted yesterday by the US think tank Atlantic Council after the summit ended. 

Holness says a major accomplishment of the June 6-10 summit was the nature of discussions involving US President Joe Biden. 

"I've been to many such summits and conferences; I think this one distinguishes itself by virtue of the frank exchanges between the leaders, especially between the United States and the various leaders of the region. I think the level of exchange was at a very frank level and I think that would help the outcomes," he said. 

Holness also said Biden assured the leaders of his "genuine interest" in the region and that most leaders left "very impressed by the willingness of the United States to listen".

He did not go into details about the shift in how the region views the US and what happened at the summit to inform that perspective. 

Holness said Jamaica will wait to see whether the agreements struck on issues such as finance and migration will be implemented as planned. 

Meanwhile, the prime minister got some applause after highlighting that a map in the room where he was being interviewed did not include most islands of the Caribbean. Cuba was visible. 

The interviewer said the image was not created by the Atlantic Council

But Holness used the point to reiterate feelings of neglect in the Caribbean capitals even with millions of dollars in various forms of US assistance. 

"The US spends a lot of attention in the Caribbean on Cuba ...but the rest of the Caribbean feels that we're not being paid the attention that we should get, considering ourselves as was described by a former president as being the third border of the United States," he said. 

He said the Caribbean has supported the US through its labour force and other resources, but issues such as climate change, weapons and drugs trafficking require greater focus from Washington. 

Holness also highlighted issues of poverty afflicting the Caribbean. 

"Jamaica is one of the oldest democracies, one of the oldest 25 democracies in the world. And the region, generally, almost all the countries there are democratic countries. The challenge is that we embrace democratic principles and ideals; we are examples of strong democracies, we're liberal democracies but we have not been able to convert democratic principles into prosperity for our people," he said.

Most CARICOM leaders attended the summit amid a call for a boycott of the event over the exclusion of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

St Vincent and the Grenadines was not represented and so too were some countries from Latin America including Mexico and Bolivia. 

Holness is scheduled to return home today.

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