CARICOM chairman urges closer collaboration to dealing with a changing global environment

GEORGETOWN (CMC):

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) chairman, Mia Mottley Wednesday said that the 15-member regional integration movement begins 2025 at the crossroads of immense challenges and extraordinary opportunities against a backdrop of global uncertainty.

In a New Year message, Mottley, who is also the Barbados Prime Minister, said “how we act, united as a people, and as nations will define not only this year, 2025, but the legacy of our generation.

“The Caribbean is far more than a geographic space. We know it. It is a living testament to the power of courage, creativity, and our collective strength. Ours is a history marked by resilience, a word that we will have to embrace more and more in our future.”

She said time and again the region has faced storms most natural and manmade and risen stronger, more determined than ever, united in shaping its destiny.

She said that the Caribbean region is at an important juncture beginning 2025 against that backdrop of global uncertainty.

“The aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic linger. The worsening climate crisis endangers our homes and livelihoods ... the devastating conflicts in Sudan and Ukraine and Gaza and Lebanon reverberate far beyond their borders, while in our community, the multifaceted crisis in Haiti demands urgent, thoughtful and compassionate solutions, and we pray for the continued stability of our relations between Guyana and Venezuela.”

But she said that these challenges, while testing the resolve of the Caribbean people also underscore the urgency of adaptation, resilience and bold action.

“The Caribbean must not only weather these storms, but we must lead in crafting solutions for a changing world,” she said, adding that central to the mission must be resuming the full implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) that allows for the free movement of goods, skills, labour and services across the region.

“We paused our coordinated actions on this noble but critical mission as we applied all that we could muster to fight COVID and its trail of economic and social upheaval. But five years on, we must resume our work on the CSME.”